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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28803927">Goodnight, Travel Well</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dukeofdragonstone/pseuds/dukeofdragonstone'>dukeofdragonstone</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Take My Hand, Wreck My Plans [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Height Differences, M/M, Slow Burn, Slytherin Harry Potter, Yule Ball (Harry Potter)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 09:54:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>23,677</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28803927</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dukeofdragonstone/pseuds/dukeofdragonstone</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Not much longer after the disturbances at the Quidditch World Cup, Harry Potter and his friends return to Hogwarts, where a secret plot against him gets him dragged into the Triwizard Tournament, a dangerous competition that threatens the life of every participant in it.<br/>In a tumultuous year full of drama and romance, will his friends' support be enough to get him through the darkness that lies ahead?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cedric Diggory/Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Pansy Parkinson, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom/Theodore Nott, Ron Weasley/Blaise Zabini, Seamus Finnigan/Dean Thomas, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Viktor Krum/Ron Weasley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Take My Hand, Wreck My Plans [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2068275</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>100</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Unexpected guests and introductions.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The first chapter of my Goblet of Fire rewrite is finally here! I'm so sorry for the delay, but I recently got a job and I couldn't post the first chapter on Wednesday as I intended to, but it's here at last, I hope you like it!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><strong>Chapter 1:</strong><br/><strong>Unexpected</strong> <strong>guests and introductions. </strong></p><p> </p><p>Harry gasped and grabbed his wand from the bedside table when Sirius Black and Remus Lupin started singing “Happy Birthday” to him that morning, for he was a stranger to such eventuality. </p><p>“Is everything alright?” Sirius frowned as he pointed to the tip of Harry’s wand with his gaze, interrupting his singing. </p><p>“Yeah, yeah,” Harry breathed out. “You startled me, that's all.”<br/>“Shall we continue then?” Lupin raised an eyebrow.</p><p>Harry nodded in response and both men resumed their singing but their expressions of strangeness never quite left their faces.</p><p>“Kreacher!” Sirius yelled from the feet of Harry’s bed. “Bring <em>the thing</em>!”</p><p>Harry loved his godfather, but he had demonstrated over the past few weeks just how eccentric his tastes were and that made Harry fear for the so-called <em>thing</em> Kreacher, the Blacks' house-elf, was supposed to bring.</p><p>Kreacher apparated inside the room followed by a loud crack that made Harry sigh in frustration. The house-elf then proceeded to walk up to him and put the thing over Harry’s blankets, not before bowing so low Margaret Thatcher would grunt in jealousy. </p><p>“Thank you, Kreacher,” Harry said softly. </p><p>Kreacher grunted in response and dragged his feet through the wooden floor on his way to the corridor, the house-elf didn’t really like him, or anyone for that matter.</p><p>“Come on, open it,” Sirius said excitedly. </p><p><em>The thing</em> in question was a purple envelope with a yellow ribbon that Harry proceeded to tear apart in order to get to get to the envelope's contents.</p><p>“So, what do you think?” Sirius asked eagerly.</p><p>“If you could just let him breath then I’m sure he’d be happy to read what’s inside,” Remus told Sirius.</p><p>“Right, sorry,” Sirius blushed. “Go on, read it.”</p><p>
  <em>Dartmoor, Devon, England, Great Britain.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>July 31, 1994.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The International Quidditch Organisation is delighted to confirm the purchase of three top row tickets for the final match of the Quidditch World Cup which will be held at Trillenium Stadium in Dartmoor on the eighteenth day of August of the present year.</em>
</p><p>“Oh, God,” Harry panted as he reread the receipt's contents in his head over and over. “You didn’t.”</p><p>“Oh, yes, he did,” Lupin grinned. </p><p>“So, what do you think?” Sirius smiled mischievously. </p><p>“What do I think?!” Harry asked in disbelief. “It’s awesome! Thank you very much!”</p><p>“So, you liked it, I take it?” Sirius asked. </p><p>“I did, very, very much,” Harry nodded. “But I’ll repay you, these must have cost a fortune.”</p><p>“Nonsense, I’m your godfather,” Sirius dismissed him. “Your <em>filthy-rich</em> godfather.”</p><p>“I know but I—"</p><p>“Zip it,” Sirius cut in playfully. “Now, get dressed, Remus made breakfast.”</p><p>“You know I can’t stay for breakfast,” Harry said referring to the summer job he had gotten at Diagon Alley. “I have to get to <em>Florian's</em>.”</p><p>“Sirius already took care of that,” Remus said.</p><p>“Oh no, what did you do?” Harry asked him.</p><p>“I made a quick call to Mr. Fortescue,” Sirius replied. “He was more than happy to give you the day off.”</p><p>“We’ll, uh, see you downstairs,” Remus said as he dragged Sirius out of the room and closed the door.</p><p>Harry took one last look at the <em>Quidditch</em> World Cup tickets before securing the envelope inside of one of his bedside table's drawers. He made his bed as fast as he could and grabbed the first clean clothes he saw. The day Sirius had welcomed him inside Grimmauld Place 12 he had given him his brother’s room, he also showed him around the house and told him a few disturbing stories about his parents and their favoritism for Regulus, which showed once you compared Regulus’s bedroom and Sirius’s old bedroom. </p><p>“It wasn’t Regulus’s fault, of course" Harry remembered Sirius saying. “He just fitted in with my parents' expectations in ways I could never.”</p><p>And then they changed subjects. Sirius had took hard his little brother’s death and Harry couldn’t blame him for not wanting to talk about something that pained him since he had touchy subjects himself. </p><p>Still, Harry greatly enjoyed living in Regulus’s room. When he first arrived to Grimmauld Place 12 on Draco’s birthday the room had just been cleaned up, but it still felt as someone else’s room, as if Regulus might pop up later and go upstairs to take a nap, and Harry decided to keep it that way. It feels like reading a book with someone else’s annotations in the margins, he thought. But the indisputable best part about Regulus’s bedroom was the view from the large window in the back of the room, Harry could see Grimmauld Place’s backyard from up there and, with the current weather and Remus's constant care, the garden was really coming to life.</p><p>Harry walked up to the window just for the sake of it when he noticed something different about the backyard: there were tables, several tables on the ground with chairs around them.</p><p>“Good lord, what now?” Harry said to himself as he left his room and got downstairs. </p><p>“You took your time,” Sirius said in between munches as Harry arrived to the dining room. </p><p>“Why are there tables in the backyard?” Harry inquired. </p><p>“Harry, you should really start eating, your breakfast is getting co—”</p><p>“The tables? In the backyard?” Harry insisted.</p><p>“Remus and I thought of throwing you a little birthday party,” Sirius sighed. “You know, having some of your friends over to celebrate.”</p><p>Harry could feel his lower lip starting to tremble. </p><p>“Harry, are you quite alright?” Remus asked.</p><p>“I-I'm fine,” Harry replied as he swallowed back tears as convincingly as he could.</p><p>Harry took his place on the table, the plate of scrambled eggs Remus had made him earlier that day still had steam floating out of it. He was definitely not living with the Dursleys anymore.</p><p>“So, the party,” Sirius proceeded with caution. “Is it alright by you? It’s not too late to cancel if you don’t feel like celebrating.”</p><p>“It’s, uh, fine,” Harry’s voice broke a little. “It just caught me by surprise, that’s all.”</p><p>Harry ate his breakfast in silence as Sirius and Remus shared plaintive looks, Harry had told him about the Dursleys’ treatment towards him, all about the starving and the living in the cupboard under the stairs. Sirius and Remus knew that Harry had never celebrated his birthday this way, never had a birthday party, never even had a decent bedroom nor a family he could remember so they knew they’d be taking a risk by throwing him a party without his knowledge, but if there was even the smallest of chances that Harry would be happy about the party then they’d throw it, and so they did.</p><p>“About the party,” Harry started. “Who’s coming?”</p><p>“The Weasleys, for starters,” Sirius replied. “All of them.”</p><p>“All of them?” Harry had never met Bill nor Charlie, the oldests of Ron’s siblings. </p><p>“Yeah, Charlie’s back from Romania and Bill’s back from Egypt,” Sirius explained.</p><p>“Alright, who else?” </p><p>“I got in touch with Hermione’s parents,” Remus said. “She’s coming as well.”</p><p>“And so is that boy Diggory,” Sirius said with a certain twinkle in his eyes as he pronounced Cedric’s last name. </p><p>“Oh, Cedric?” Harry asked. </p><p>“Yeah, <em>Cedric</em>,” Sirius teased him. “Why don’t you tell us more about Cedric, Harry, huh?”</p><p>“W-what is there to tell?” Harry asked in nervousness. </p><p>“What <em>isn’t</em> there to tell?” Sirius replied. “He sure was very protective of you last time I saw him.”</p><p>“And so were all of his friends, leave him alone,” Remus came to his rescue and Harry mouthed a “thank you".</p><p>“And what about my other friends?” Harry asked.</p><p>“Well, Neville’s coming too,” Remus replied. “I know he took that summer job over at <em>Mrs. Diggory’s Botanical Novelties</em> so it was easy to reach out to him.”</p><p>“That’s nice, but I was talking about my <em>other</em> friends,” Harry said. “My <em>Slytherin</em> friends.”</p><p>“They, errr, were harder to reach out to,” Sirius said. “Given their parents' allegiances during the war.”</p><p>“So, they’re not coming?” Harry asked with a hint of disappointment in his voice.</p><p>“Blaise is,” Remus said trying to look on the bright side of things. “But I’m not sure about the others.”</p><p>“I did reach out to Cissy, though,” Sirius said.</p><p>“Really?” Harry’s eyes lit up. “And what did she say?”</p><p>“Lucius is certainly not coming, he’s not even invited,” Sirius replied very dignified. “But she said she’ll do her best to bring Draco.”</p><p>“Well, I hope she manages to do so,” Harry replied.</p><p>“Yeah, me too,” Sirius agreed.</p><p>“In the meantime,” Remus started. “Sirius and I have to finish decorating the backyard, and you, mister, I advise you to change clothes.”</p><p>“What’s wrong with the ones I’m wearing?” Harry scoffed.</p><p>“You can do better,” Remus patted his back before leaving to the garden.</p><p>Harry washed his dishes in a hurry in case Kreacher appeared out of the blue and started scolding him about anything that came to his mind, oh, how he missed Dobby. He then walked up to his room to follow Remus's advice and change his clothes, but to be honest he still didn’t saw the problem with the clothes he was wearing.</p><p>As he searched for more clean clothes he got distracted with the stuff inside of his drawers, the photo album Hagrid had gotten him at the end of his first year had now more photos than it used to have, but the photo he liked the most, the one with him and Cedric at <em>Mrs. Diggory’s Botanical Novelties</em> last year when he bought some earmuffs just for the sake of it, was now sitting on top of his bedside table where he stared at it every night before going to bed.</p><p>He had seen Cedric almost every day since June because of their respective jobs at Diagon Alley but Harry’s heart still skipped a beat every time he caught a glimpse of the sandy-haired Hufflepuff, the thought of him actually arriving at his house later for the party made Harry follow Remus’s advice thoroughly and change clothes to the ones that fitted him best. He even tried, and failed, to tame his hair.</p><p>And what of Draco, his best friend who Harry had not heard about since their goodbye that June? Harry still had some unresolved questions when it came to Draco. He couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened between them had the train driver not gotten between them with his silly interruptions. In that scenario, would Draco had been his first kiss, and most importantly, did he want Draco to be his first kiss? The words Cho and Cedric exchanged last year at The Three Broomsticks echoed through Harry’s mind, “the only people that don't know Malfoy loves Harry are Malfoy and Harry”, could it stil be true even after all these months? Did Draco love him? Would he still do, even now?</p><p>Over the past three years Harry had not really found time to think about matters of the heart, he had been too busy fighting off possessed professors, giant snakes and uncovering crimes to even bother, so why was this sudden urge to do so hitting him like a truck? Sure, he had noticed just how dreamy both Cedric and Draco were, he wasn’t blind, but he still couldn’t figure out what singled them out from other people, why'd he felt so drawn to them ever since he met them.</p><p>“Harry?” Remus interrupted his thoughts from the other side of the door.</p><p>“Yeah?” Harry replied. </p><p>“I, ummm, don’t know how to say this,” Remus started. “But some of your guests are already here."</p><p><em>Your</em> guests? Says the one that plotted the whole party behind my back, Harry thought. He had not even brushed his teeth yet, let alone look presentable.</p><p>“Sirius gave Molly the wrong time and,” Lupin sighed from the other side of the door. “Well, the Weasleys are already here, please come down as quickly as you can.”</p><p>In Merlin’s name, he had to brush his teeth <em>now</em> if he didn’t want to meet Bill and Charlie Weasley for the first time not only with his hedgehog hairstyle but with post-breakfast morning breath as well.</p><p>“I’ll be right there,” Harry panted as he ran to the bathroom to brush his teeth as quickly as humanly possible. </p><p>Harry sighed in defeat in front of the mirror before leaving his bedroom to meet the Weasleys downstairs, he had done his very best.</p><p>“Awww, Harry!” Mrs. Weasley squealed as she opened her arms to greet him with a hug. “You’re so much grown already, happy birthday!”</p><p>“Thank you… so much… Mrs. Weasley,” Harry managed to blurt with the woman’s arms tightly wrapped around his neck.</p><p>“Mum, he's turning blue,” Ginny whispered. </p><p>“Oh! I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Molly Weasley chuckled as she stepped away. “Happy birthday, Harry.”</p><p>Harry then greeted Mr. Weasley who with a guiding arm around his shoulder led him to Charlie and Bill.</p><p>“I believe you haven’t met my oldest two, Harry,” Mr. Weasley said.</p><p>Harry was plain breathless at the sight of Charlie and Bill Weasley. Charlie was both younger and shorter than Bill, his skin was covered in freckles and looked very tan, Harry noticed several burns on his muscled arms and his smile resembled his mother's. Bill, on the other hand, taller and slimmer, had his red hair down to his shoulders and had an earring with a fang dangling from it. Harry had found both brothers to be, although very different, handsome. </p><p>“Ummm, hello?” Harry awkwardly greeted them.</p><p>“Harry, Ron has told us so much about you,” Charlie Weasley shook his hand.</p><p>“Yeah, I feel as if I already know you,” Bill joked. “But it’s a pleasure to officially meet you at last.”</p><p>“T-the pleasure is all mine,” Harry stammered as he shook Bill’s hand.</p><p>“I don’t believe we’ve thanked you for saving Ginny back in her first year,” Charlie said as he gave a quick glance to his younger sister. </p><p>“You don’t have to,” Harry replied. “She was the one who saved me.”</p><p>“You hear that, Gin? You saved The Boy Who Lived,” Fred cut in.</p><p>“Of course I heard that, you dummy, I’m right beside you,” Ginny replied. “Happy birthday, by the way, Harry.”</p><p>“Thanks, Ginny,” Harry nodded at her.</p><p>“Boys,” Arthur said to Charlie and Bill. “Come help us at the backyard.”</p><p>“We'll see you later, Harry,” Bill said as they walked away with their father.</p><p>“Happy birthday, Boy Who Lived,” George said as he walked past him.</p><p>“Thank you, George,” Harry smiled uncomfortably. </p><p>“Happy birthday, mate,” Ron hugged him. “Sorry for arriving so early, we got confused.”</p><p>“Don’t worry, I’m happy to see you,” Harry smiled.</p><p>“We brought cake,” Ron said. “Gin and I helped mum bake it.”</p><p>“Nice, I’m dying to eat it,” Harry replied. </p><p>“I also brought you this,” Ron handed him a birthday card. “Just open it when you’re alone, alright? It’s not my best drawing.”</p><p>“Alright,” Harry chucked. “Want to come see my room?”</p><p>“Sure,” Ron replied and then followed Harry upstairs.</p><p>“So,” Harry threw himself onto his bed. “Have you heard anything from Draco?”</p><p>“Not really,” Ron replied. “I’ve been waiting for him to write to me first since that what he said at King’s Cross.”</p><p>“Yeah, I’ve been doing the same,” Harry sighed. “Sirius managed to talk to his mum, though.”</p><p>“Really, what about?” Ron asked as he sat on the bee’s edge.</p><p>“Coming here today, with Draco,” Harry replied. “She says she’ll try her best to get here but she isn’t certain.”</p><p>“Why do I feel like her uncertainty is due to her husband?” Ron rolled his eyes.</p><p>“I feel the same way,” Harry said. “I’ve been feeling suspicious about Lucius ever since he ditched Draco at the Infirmary in June.”</p><p>“His mysterious disappearance,” Ron added.</p><p>“Besides, something happened at King’s Cross after Draco left,” Harry said.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>"I peeked through the window as Draco and his family left the platform,” Harry told Ron, “and it was as if Lucius felt my gaze, he turned to see me, directly in the eyes, and my scar burned so bad it made me drop to the floor.”</p><p>“Have you told Sirius about this?” Ron said as he stared at Harry’s scar.</p><p>“I’m afraid to do it,” Harry confessed.</p><p>“Why?” Ron frowned. “He seems like a nice man.”</p><p>“He is nice, I just don’t want to worry him,” Harry sighed. </p><p>“Harry, you scar has burned only under certain circumstances,” Ron said, “I don’t think it’s wise for you to keep it a secret. I don’t want to be that person, but you could be in danger.”</p><p>“I know,” Harry said. “I will tell him. Soon.”</p><p>Ron gave him a weird look, as if he was saying “you’d better".</p><p>“On a more exciting note,” Harry said as he looked for the purple envelope in his drawer's insides, “look at this.”</p><p>“No way!” Ron screeched as he finished reading the receipt. “Dad’s got us tickets too, maybe we can go together.”</p><p>“That'd be awesome,” Harry smiled.</p><p>“You could even go to The Burrow for a couple of days if you want,” Ron suggested. “Dad’s gonna run it through Sirius later in the afternoon.”</p><p>“I don’t think he’ll object,” Harry replied. </p><p>“Anyway, have you heard from Blaise?” Ron inquired with a very serious expression on his face.</p><p>“Only that he’s coming today,” Harry said.</p><p>“Oh, he is?” Ron blushed. </p><p>But then a knock on Harry’s door interrupted them.</p><p>“Harry, more guests are arriving,” Sirius said from the other side of the door.</p><p>“Do you think it’s him?” Ron blushed.</p><p>“Who? Blaise?” Harry asked and Ron nodded. “I guess we’ll see.”</p><p>It wasn’t Blaise, instead, Harry and Ron met with the most bizarre mob of people walking through Sirius’s doorstep corridor. At the front walked a couple, a woman of light brown hair and kind eyes walked with her hand entangled in the hand of who Harry assumed was his husband, a fair-haired man with a round belly. Behind the couple walked Hermione Granger next to a tall, beautiful young woman with purple hair.</p><p>“Dromeda!” Sirius greeted the older woman.</p><p>“Cousin,” she said as she embraced him into a hug. “It’s been so long.”</p><p>Sirius pushed his cousin’s body closer to him before letting go of her.</p><p>“This, Sirius, is my husband, Ted,” Andromeda pointed at the man beside her.</p><p>“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Ted offered Sirius his hand.</p><p>“The pleasure is all mine,” said Sirius as he shook the man’s hand.</p><p>“And this young woman,” Andromeda put her arm around the purple-haired woman, “is our daughter, Nymphadora.”</p><p>“Please don’t call me that,” Nymphadora shook Sirius’s hand.</p><p>“What shall I call you then, <em>niece</em>?” Sirius chuckled.</p><p>“Tonks is alright,” she smiled.</p><p>“I see you’ve already met Hermione, <em>Tonks</em>,” Sirius said.</p><p>“Ah, yes,” Andromeda said. “We found miss Granger and her parents outside looking for house number 12, I knew right there and then she was one of your guests, I showed her in.”</p><p>“Thank you, Mrs. Tonks,” Hermione said softly. </p><p>“Oh, call me Dora!” </p><p>“I assume you haven’t met my godson,” Sirius dragged Harry to his side, “Harry Potter.”</p><p>“It’s a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Potter,” Andromeda smiled at him.</p><p>“The pleasure is all mine,” Harry smiled at them.</p><p>“It’s your birthday, right?” Nymphadora Tonks asked him.</p><p>“Yeah,” Harry replied. </p><p>“Well, congratulations then,” she said as she patted the boy’s back as she walked past him.</p><p>“Well, come on in,” Sirius said, “I haven’t introduced you to my boyfriend, Remus.”</p><p>“Yes, I believe you haven’t,” Dromeda said as she and her husband followed Sirius’s footsteps. “Happy birthday, Mr. Potter.”</p><p>Harry gave her a wide smile before she disappeared into the house's insides, and only then Harry and Ron ran to greet their friend.</p><p>“Hermione, how are you?” Harry said with his arms around her.</p><p>“Better now that I’m actually inside the house,” Hermione said. “Professor Lupin never told me the house was under a disguising charm.”</p><p>“Don’t let him hear you calling him professor,” Harry warned her. “He gets cranky.”</p><p>“Oh, well, he'll have to get over it,” Hermione dismissed him. “Happy birthday, by the way. I made you this.”</p><p>Hermione gave him another birthday card, hers looked way more fancy than Ron’s but Harry didn’t say anything, he was first of all grateful they had even spent time making something for him. Hermione’s card had a picture Colin Creevey had took of them in their second year glued in the cover, the memory brought a smile to Harry’s face.</p><p>“Thank you, ‘Mione,” Harry squeezed her hand.</p><p>“You’re welcome,” she replied.</p><p>Harry gave his two friends a quick tour of the house, avoiding the creepy family tree wallpaper room since Sirius had not yet gotten rid of it. After the tour was finished he took them to the dining room, where almost every seat around the table was taken as midday had arrived and so had everyone’s appetites. </p><p> </p><p>Ms. Zabini brought Blaise after lunch, she didn’t stay much, she made some small talk to Sirius and Remus, kissed his son goodbye and then left. Her presence alone was intimidating, Harry had never seen a woman so intimidating or so beautiful, Blaise had inherited some of her beauty.</p><p>“She’s had seven husbands, you know?” Ron whispered to Harry’s ear. “All died in mysterious circumstances leaving her a substantial inheritance.”</p><p>“Lucky her,” Hermione said. </p><p>They took the party to the backyard after lunch, the round tables looked more presentable under the tent Sirius and Remus, with the help of the older Weasleys, had set up. Kreacher was in the back of the garden making drinks by Sirius’s order, but everyone was too scared of the house-elf to dare drink his brews. </p><p>“Where is Percy?” Harry suddenly remembered Ron’s pompous brother. “I thought Sirius said all of you were coming.”</p><p>“He’s Bartemius Crouch's intern,” Ron said. “At the Ministry.”</p><p>“And he’s been insufferable ever since,” George added. “Cancelled last minute and claimed he was too busy doing Mr. Crouch’s bidding.”</p><p>“Busy licking his boots more like it,” Fred grinned.</p><p>“Long story short, he cancelled,” Ron sighed. “Where is Cedric anyway, didn’t you tell me he was coming?”</p><p>A series a frenetic knocking on the door could be heard just as Ron finished his sentence.</p><p>“Speaking of the devil,” Harry said as he left his chair.</p><p>Sirius got up after Harry to greet their guests in case Cedric’s parents were accompanying him, but it wasn’t them waiting in the street, in their place, the less expected duo had shown up at Harry’s doorstep.</p><p>“Dudley?” Harry nearly gasped. “A-aunt Petunia?”</p><p>Sirius looked the pair up and down before putting a protective arm around his godson's shoulder. </p><p>“What are you doing here?” Sirius barked.</p><p>“Happy birthday, Harry,” Petunia smiled shyly at them. “Can we come in?”</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The pendant.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After the arrival of some more guests, Harry finally blows the candles on top of his birthday cake unaware of what's about to come his way.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry for the delay, I meant to update last Sunday but I got a little busy. <br/>I hope you like it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><strong>Chapter 2:</strong><br/><strong>The pendant</strong>.</p><p> </p><p>“Come in?” Sirius scoffed. “Certainly not.”</p><p>“Well, if you could just listen to me then,” Petunia started.</p><p>“And why would we do such a thing?” Sirius raised an eyebrow. “As if Harry had not told us how you and your bastard of a husband treated him in the past.”</p><p>“Well, that’s the thing,” Petunia cut in. “He’s not my husband anymore.”</p><p>“You… you—“ Harry was left speechless. </p><p>“Divorced him, yes,” Petunia nodded. </p><p>After a few moments of silence due to the turn the conversation had taken Sirius cleared his throat. </p><p>“Well, I’m sorry to hear that,” Sirius said. “But that doesn’t change anything.”</p><p>“I know it doesn’t,” Dudley spoke for the first time since they arrived, not speaking to Sirius but to Harry. “I know we’ve treated you horribly in the past, <em>I’ve</em> treated you horribly in the past, but we want to apologise, make it up to you, if you’d let us.”</p><p>Sirius then looked at Harry, it was up to him, up to him to let them into their house, to let them speak.</p><p>“Come in,” Harry said dryly as he stepped aside. </p><p>Sirius then frowned at Harry as if saying “what are you doing?” as they guided them to the sitting room, and once inside said room, Sirius closed shut the curtains leading to the backyard, they may have stepped into their home, but they were certainly not invited to the party.</p><p>“How nice,” Petunia said referring to the party. “I don’t believe we ever threw you one of those.”</p><p>“No, you never did,” Harry said coldly. “What did you say you were here for again?”</p><p>“We’ve came to apologise, as Dudley said,” Petunia cleared her throat. “And to give you a birthday present.”</p><p>“What is it?” Harry snarled. “One of your exhusband’s dirty socks? Wouldn’t be the first time.”</p><p>“No… and I’m sorry… about that,” Petunia said as she looked inside her purse. </p><p>“What is it then?” Harry inquired.</p><p>“I don’t know if I ever told you,” Petunia said, whatever she was looking for inside her purse she seemed to have found it, “but after your parents' death I was the one to collect your mother’s belongings.”</p><p>Harry looked into his aunt’s eyes as she spoke, for once, he really wanted to hear at what she had to say it.</p><p>“The house, as somebody must have told you by now, was completely destroyed,” Petunia told him and Sirius’s eyes darkened, he had seen the house and the state it was in after Voldemort's attack. “There wasn’t much to retrieve, most of your mother’s belongings were in the same state the house was, and the rest of it must have gotten lost among the house’s ruins, but I did manage to retrieve this, from one of her drawers.”</p><p>Petunia then got out of her purse a red and gold Headgirl badge and put it into Harry’s hand, who proceeded to stare at it in awe. It looked older than Percy’s Headboy badge and it seemed to have been polished beforehand. </p><p>“As the years passed, Lily and I drifted apart, I’m sure you know that,” Petunia said. “But I’ll always remember how at the start of the summer my parents and I would go pick her up from King’s Cross and she’d spend weeks telling us the most marvelous stories from Hogwarts and the world you now belong to.”</p><p>“I thought you hated her,” Harry said as he hid the badge in his fist.</p><p>“I could never hate her, she’s my sister,” Petunia’s voice broke. “I resented her, for she could access a world I could only dream about, and, after she died, I, without any justification, started resenting all that was left of Lily in this world: you. And for that I’m sorry.”</p><p>Harry stared in silence at her aunt and cousin, he had the power to tell them no, “no, I don’t forgive you and I don’t think I ever will”, and perhaps inflict on them a small fraction of all the pain they had inflicted on him in the past, but the couldn’t, he thought perhaps it was because of his mother’s badge, hidden in his fist. He had his mother’s eyes, he had his mother’s badge, could he have his mother’s kindness as well, the kindness everyone talked so very fondly of?</p><p>“I-I don’t know,” Harry stammered, “if I can forgive you, both of you, right now.”</p><p>“I see,” Petunia stared at her feet in disappointment. “I can’t really blame you, can I?”</p><p>“But that doesn’t mean I never will,” Harry continued. “I’m glad, however, that you had it in you to come here today and apologise. Perhaps in time we can all put everything that happened past us.”</p><p>“I’d love that,” Petunia reached for Harry’s hand and he, hesitantly, reached back for hers.</p><p>“Would you like to stay?” Harry offered to everyone’s surprise. “I know this isn’t your usual crowd, but still, would you like that?”</p><p>“Perhaps some other time,” Petunia got up. </p><p>“It would be possible, right?” Dudley asked as he got up behind his mother. “For us to meet some other time, I mean.”</p><p>“Yes, Dudley, some other time then,” Harry assured him. “I’ll show you outside.”</p><p>Harry, his aunt and his cousin then walked back into the doorstep corridor as he led them to the door.</p><p>“Thank you for finding time to receive us,” Petunia told him as she stepped outside.</p><p>“Thank you for the birthday present,” Harry had saved the badge in his pocket.</p><p>Petunia Evans and Dudley Dursley gave Harry one last plaintive smile before walking away down the street and Harry closed the door behind them, breathing in and out.</p><p>“I’m proud of you,” Sirius told him. “You didn’t have to let them in, let alone listening to them, but you did.”</p><p>“I think it’s what my mother would’ve wanted,” Harry said.</p><p>“Yes, I think Lily would’ve wanted that,” Sirius replied. “But even so, you were under no obligation of listening to them, and you found it in your heart to do so.”</p><p>“I guess,” Harry nodded. “How did they find the house anyway?”</p><p>“Well, our address must have shown in the <em>muggle</em> adoption papers,” Sirius said.</p><p>“I figured that,” Harry said. “But what about the disguising charm? Hermione said she’d struggled to find the house.”</p><p>“Dromeda must have forgotten to cast them again after they arrived,” Sirius replied after giving it some thought. “Shall we return to the party?”</p><p>Harry nodded and let Sirius put his arm around his shoulder, but just as they meant to return someone knocked on the door again.</p><p>“What now?” Harry sighed in frustration as he opened the door.</p><p>“Ummm, hi?” Cedric Diggory greeted him in confusion with his parents, Neville’s grandmother and Neville behind him.</p><p>“I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else,” Harry chuckled uncomfortably. “Come in.”</p><p>“Was that… your aunt?” Cedric asked puzzled. </p><p>“Yeah, and my cousin,” Harry said. “But they were just leaving.”</p><p>“You kind of look like him,” Cedric said and Sirius cackled. </p><p>“Cedric Diggory, you did <em>not</em> just say that to me,” Harry glared at him.</p><p>“I was just teasing you, you are way cuter,” Cedric hugged him. “Happy birthday, Harry.”</p><p>“So, where can put this?” Mrs. Diggory cleared her throat. “We’ve brought snacks.”</p><p>“Oh, I’ll take them,” Sirius offered. </p><p>“Sirius Black, it's nice to finally meet you,” Amos Diggory sternly greeted him as Sirius took his wife’s bags. “Ced told me everything about your adventures last year.”</p><p>“And quite the adventures they were,” Cedric cut in trying to ease up the tension his father had built.</p><p>“You must be Neville’s grandmother,” Sirius said as he walked past Amos Diggory to greet the older woman. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Mrs. Longbottom.”</p><p>“The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Black,” Augusta Longbottom shook Sirius’s hand. “My Frank used to tell me a lot about your bravery during the days of the Order, such a shame things unfolded the way they did.”</p><p>“A shame indeed, but nothing we can do about it,” Sirius said bitterly. “Now, come on in, all of you.”</p><p>Harry held on to Cedric’s arm as Sirius guided them to the backyard. He noticed how Cedric’s jaw clenched as Harry’s hand came in contact with his skin, so he slowly let go of him. Perhaps I made him uncomfortable, he thought. </p><p>“I brought you a present,” Cedric said as they stood on the garden’s anteroom.</p><p>“You did?” Harry smiled. </p><p>“Yeah, I’ve got it in here, wait a second,” Cedric replied as he buried his hand so deep inside his robe Harry thought for a moment he had done an extension charm to it.</p><p>When Cedric’s hand finally left his robe's insides he held two pairs of pink earmuffs in his hand.</p><p>“I thought the last ones might have worn out after a year,” Cedric smiled. </p><p>“And why are there two?” Harry inquired.</p><p>“One for you and one for me, of course,” Cedric replied. “Want me to put them on?”</p><p>“Sure,” Harry nodded.</p><p>And so Cedric slid his earmuffs down his head only to do so the same on Harry, whose shoulders offered a solid base to Cedric’s hands afterwards. </p><p>“So, how’s Draco?” Cedric cleared both his throat and the air.</p><p>“I wouldn’t know, I haven’t really heard from him,” Harry sighed. “Have you?”</p><p>“As a matter of fact, I haven’t,” Cedric replied. “It’s not like I’ve tried to contact him either, though.”</p><p>“I see,” Harry nodded in response. “According to Sirius he might pop up later.”</p><p>“<em>Might</em>?” Cedric raised an eyebrow. “For being your boyfriend one might expect his assistance to be confirmed.”</p><p>“<em>My boyfriend</em>?” Harry frowned.</p><p>“Don’t act so surprised,” Cedric chuckled. “We both know what happened at King’s Cross on his birthday.”</p><p>“You saw us?” Harry gave himself away.</p><p>“I didn’t have to,” Cedric replied with a hint of disappointment in his voice. “The driver asked me to get some kids off the train, he claimed he had seen you two snogging in the corridor.”</p><p>“Snogging in the corridor?” Harry scoffed. “I don’t know what he saw but Draco and I certainly weren’—”</p><p>“Harry,” Cedric cut in, giving him a reassuring smile. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me, I’m sorry I brought it up in the first place.”</p><p>“I know I don’t have to, I <em>want to do it</em>,” Harry’s face hardened.</p><p>“Why?” Cedric frowned.</p><p>I don’t know, Harry wanted to say. I don’t know why I feel the need to explain myself to you, to let you know nothing happened. Of course he didn’t actually say that.</p><p>“Well, because,” Harry started but suddenly became speechless.</p><p>“Because?” Cedric prompted him to continue.</p><p>“Because he wouldn’t like you to get the wrong idea,” Draco Malfoy said behind them. “Would you, Potter?”</p><p>“Draco,” Harry gasped. “You startled me, when did you get here?”</p><p>“Around the ‘snogging in the corridor’ part,” Draco replied. </p><p>“I meant at my house,” Harry walked up to him.</p><p>“Oh, my mum's been here before, she let ourselves in,” Draco shrugged. “Happy birthday, by the way. Nice earmuffs.”</p><p>“Cedric got them for me,” Harry said.</p><p>“He shouldn’t have bothered,” Draco glanced at Cedric.</p><p>“Did you even get him anything?” Cedric put out his chest and took a step closer to Draco.</p><p>“As a matter of fact, I did,” Draco replied smugly. “Turn around, Potter.”</p><p>“I beg your pardon?” Harry scoffed. </p><p>“Turn around, please?” Draco asked.</p><p>“Fine,” Harry agreed. </p><p>Suddenly, the feeling of Draco’s cold touch on his neck's skin was eclipsed by the feeling of a thin metallic material, a chain, that fell over his chest because of the pendant's weight just as Draco made the chain’s ends hook up behind Harry’s neck.</p><p>“What is it?” Harry’s hand searched for the pendant over his chest.</p><p>“One must never forget their first broom,” Draco said as he hugged him from behind. “Happy birthday, Harry.”</p><p>And so Harry knew it wasn’t just a broom pendant, it was an exact miniature replica of his Nimbus 2000, the one the Whomping Willow had shattered last year after the dementors attacked him at the <em>Quidditch</em> Pitch.</p><p>“Thank you, Draco,” Harry said as  the blond’s arms unwrapped him. “I love it.”</p><p>“Not to worry, Diggory,” Draco bragged, “I’m sure the earmuffs were a nice gesture.”</p><p>“I sure miss that time two minutes ago when I didn’t have to put up with you yet,” Cedric groaned.</p><p>“I sure miss that time a year ago when I hadn’t met you yet,” Draco sneered. </p><p>“Silly me thought I was hosting a birthday party, not a pissing contest,” Harry rolled his eyes. “Now, are we gonna stay in the anteroom for the rest of the evening or are we actually going to step foot in the garden?”</p><p>“Right, sorry,” Cedric looked at his feet. “Let’ go in.”</p><p>The second they sat with the rest of their friends Blaise interrogated Draco on his absence. Apparently, Draco wouldn’t dare reach out because of his father, not because he was at home all the time, but because he wasn’t. Lucius Malfoy had been sneaking out of Malfoy Manor in the middle of the night, and returning home only for a couple hours during the day, looking completely wretched. </p><p>Harry and Ron were particularly intrigued by Lucius's behaviour, given that they knew about how Harry’s scar had burnt when he had interacted with Lucius at the Platform 9¾, the others, Hermione and Blaise weren’t really that concerned in Lucius Malfoy's night time activities, Blaise claimed Lucius had never been his favourite person and Hermione had more than enough reason to dislike him, Neville on the other hand, had his mind completely somewhere else, Harry had noticed him to be quite uncomfortable around Andromeda Tonks and, as Draco spoke, he kept glancing nervously at her as if he expected her to do something.</p><p>But Neville wasn’t the only one uncomfortable around Andromeda, so was his sister, Narcissa, who, according to Sirius, had not seen her sister in quite a while. Harry wondered if both Neville’s and Narcissa's discomfort had anything to do with the other Black sister, Bellatrix, who Harry had seen in the Black family tree tapestry before Sirius sealed the room. </p><p>“Molly, shall we bring the cake?” Remus suggested sniffing the room’s tense atmosphere. </p><p>“I’d love to,” Mrs. Weasley jumped from her chair and followed Remus into the kitchen.</p><p>“So, just to confirm,” Cedric whispered into Harry’s ear, “you and Draco, not dating then?”</p><p>“No, Cedric,” Harry sighed. “Not dating Draco, or anyone really”</p><p>“Good,” Cedric said before turning away.</p><p>What do you mean <em>good</em>? Harry meant to say, but he stopped himself as he saw Mrs. Weasley and Remus bringing in the gigantic cake with fourteen already lit candles on top of it into the garden.</p><p>“On your feet, everyone,” Sirius commanded. “Let’s sing.”</p><p>And on the evening of his fourteenth birthday, as Harry blew the candles on his cake just after his guests finished singing Happy Birthday to him, he wished for nothing, for he already had all he could think of at the moment. Sure, he had never imagined he'd be celebrating his birthday with Augusta Longbottom a few chairs to his left, but even with all the unexpected additions to the guest list, Harry felt it was meant to be and he was more than fine with it.</p><p>That night, Harry went to bed with a smile on his face, unaware that that would be the first night he would dream of Frank Bryce's death, Lord Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy, looking as wretched as Draco had described him at the party, the mysterious man among them, and Little Hangleton's cemetery. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter on the comments below.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Walks and resignation.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In his last day working at Florian's, and in the eve of leaving for the Burrow, Harry is asked to dinner.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So sorry for the delay, I intend to write when I get back from work but I get home really tired. I'll make time though, I'm really excited for how this fic will develop, I just finished re-reading the Goblet of Fire and I've gotten so many new ideas I can't wait to write!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 3:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Walks and resignation.</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>Harry’s last week of having a summer job at <em>Florian Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour </em>flew by like the wind. Every morning he would be walked to Diagon Alley in the ungodly hours of seven-thirty in the morning by either Sirius or Remus to open up the shop. By then, Harry was already used to the routine he had forged that summer: he would clean the tables and sweep the floors and, at eight o’clock, Florian would come down from his apartment above the shop to officially open the shop to the public, since it was summer, the shop was filled with customers from the moment they opened, from the moment they opened to six in the afternoon when they closed. Florian gave him a two-hour break of course from two to four in the afternoon so he could get some lunch and clear his mind. When he first started working there, Sirius had offered to show up at Diagon Alley to take him home for lunch and “take a nap, perhaps", Harry scoffed at the proposal.</p><p>“A nap?” he burst out with laughter. “How old do you think I am?”</p><p>He told Sirius it wasn’t necessary since he'd thought it more practical to just have lunch at the Leaky Cauldron and Sirius ended up agreeing with him.</p><p>“You, or Remus, already take me there and pick me up after closing,” Harry said. “There’s only so many trips to Diagon Alley one can make before losing their mind.”</p><p>And that’s how Harry’s usual lunch arrangement had originated. Most days Neville Longbottom, Celine, Cedric, and sometimes even Amos Diggory would join him for lunch, and on all of those occasions, Celine Diggory had offered, or forced him more like, to let her pay for his meals.</p><p>“Have you heard from Theo?” Harry asked Neville during lunch.</p><p>“Barely,” the Gryffindor replied in between munches. “We've been writing to each other the <em>muggle </em>way all summer, but letters take longer to arrive.”</p><p>“The <em>muggle </em>way?” Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise. “How’s that been working for you two?”</p><p>Harry knew that Neville descended from a <em>pureblood</em> family, as most of his friends did, and, if Neville was half the stranger Ron or Draco were to the <em>muggle </em>world, then he’d surely consider mailing the <em>muggle </em>way quite the journey.</p><p>“It’s been a, uh, unique experience,” Neville finally let out after a long sigh. “Unique, to say the least.”</p><p>“<em>Unique</em>?” Harry chuckled. “Why go to such lengths then?”</p><p>“Well, it’s the same as Draco’s father, same as Pansy's parents,” Neville started, “they wouldn’t be too pleased if their treasured children started getting owls from us given theirs and our parents stand in the war.”</p><p>And Harry knew he was right, if he hadn’t written to Draco over the summer it wasn’t because he didn’t want to hear from him, it was quite the opposite actually, it was because of Lucius Malfoy, it was because he was scared of him doing something to Draco if he ever found out he and Harry were still on speaking terms. The truth was Harry was now terrified of his best friend’s father, more now that he had started having nightmares about him, but above everything else, Harry missed Draco, with all his heart. He missed his best friend, his teasing, their bantering, his snarky comments, his posh accent, the look in his eyes, his gray eyes, and his hugs, he missed everything in Draco, because he saw everything in Draco, and it wouldn’t hurt, of course, if they were to actually address what could’ve happened at King’s Cross. Deep down, Harry wanted answers, answers he couldn’t find by himself.</p><p>“It makes sense,” Harry said finally. “But how does it work, do you actually send letters directed at the Nott's state?”</p><p>“Of course not,” Neville scoffed as if he was offended by the question. “Most wizards live near to a <em>village</em>, to keep appearances and all. I send my letters there and Theo picks them up at the post office.”</p><p>“A village?” Harry raised an eyebrow. “I guess I hadn’t really thought about it.”</p><p>“Really?” Cedric joined their conversation after successfully gobbling his soup’s remains. “The Weasleys and my family live in the outskirts of a village called Ottery St. Catchpole, for example.”</p><p>“You live near the Weasleys?” Harry frowned.</p><p>“What, I never told you?” Cedric frowned back.</p><p>“No, I don’t think you ever did,” Harry replied. “That’s nice, though, we’ll see more of each other when I leave for The Burrow later this week.”</p><p>“Nice indeed,” Cedric winked at him. “Are you coming to the World Cup, Nev?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Neville sighed. “My grandmother hasn’t gave in yet.”</p><p>“My parents could always talk to her, if you’d like,” Cedric offered. “I hear the Weasleys already have a full house with Harry and Hermione staying there, but you could stay with us. We have a spare room.”</p><p>“Thank you, Ced,” Neville gave him a tender look. “But I think I’ll handle it myself, Gran doesn’t appreciate it when I tell other people our business.”</p><p>“Suit yourself, mate,” Cedric replied.</p><p>Amos Diggory was the first to finish his lunch, and consequently, the first to leave their table. Harry knew Amos to be a busy man. As Arthur Weasley, Amos worked at the Ministry of Magic, but unlike Arthur Weasley, Harry didn’t know Mr. Diggory that well. The man kissed his wife goodbye, ruffled his son’s hair, smiled at Neville, and finally, gave Harry a dry nod that left him puzzled.</p><p>After Amos left, Celine Diggory paid for their meals, as she had done all summer, and guided them to Diagon Alley through the brick wall in the Leaky Cauldron’s backyard.</p><p>“Mum, Nev,” Cedric called their names, “would you mind if I catch up with you guys later? I’d like to walk Harry to Florian’s.”</p><p>Neville was about to point out just how close they already were to <em>Florian’s</em> when Mrs. Diggory intervened.</p><p>“Sure thing, Ceddy,” Celine said as she grabbed Neville from the shoulder and walked away with him, leaving Harry and Cedric alone.</p><p>“<em>Ceddy</em>?” Harry snickered.</p><p>“Shut up,” Cedric contained his smile. “I’ve told her not to call me that in public.”</p><p>“Are you embarrassed, <em>Ceddy</em>?” Harry looked up at the older boy’s eyes.</p><p>“You’re not letting it go, are you?” Cedric asked as they got to <em>Florian’s</em>.</p><p>“Letting what go, exactly?” Harry played dumb. “<em>Ceddy</em>.”</p><p>“Harry,” Cedric gave him a playful look.</p><p>“What, you don’t like it when I call you <em>Ceddy</em>?” Harry teased him.</p><p>“You can call me anything you’d like,” Cedric sighed. “But as it happens, I had other plans for this little walk.”</p><p>“Really? Such as?”</p><p>“Asking you to dinner,” Cedric blurted. “Next week.”</p><p>“W-what?” Harry stammered.</p><p>“At my house, I mean,” Cedric added. “With my parents.”</p><p>“I see,” Harry replied, processing that new bit of information.</p><p>“We live close to The Burrow, as I told you during lunch,” Cedric said, “so, I could take you to my house for dinner and then back to The Burrow.”</p><p>“How very gallant,” Harry said softly.</p><p>“Well, you know me,” Cedric chuckled uncomfortably. “So, what do you think?”</p><p>“Well, have you talked to your parents about this?” Harry asked him. “Am I even welcome at your house?”</p><p>“What are you talking about? Of course you are!” Cedric scoffed in disbelief. “ My mum adores you! And as a matter of fact, so do I… As for my dad…”</p><p>“Yes,” Harry said, “let’s talk about your father.”</p><p>“Look, I know he’s been acting weird around you lately,” Cedric started.</p><p>“<em>And</em> around Sirius,” Harry cut in.</p><p>“But,” Cedric continued. “He means well, he’s just worried.”</p><p>“About what?” Harry asked him.</p><p>“About me,” Cedric sighed. “He believes that I put myself in danger last year.”</p><p>“He’s talking about the dementors, right?” Harry looked down at his feet.</p><p>“Look, Harry,” Cedric grabbed his chin and locked eyes with him, “that’s exactly why I didn’t want to have this conversation, I don’t want you to feel guilty. He’ll come around, you’ll see.”</p><p>“But <em>I am </em>guilty, Cedric, your father is well within his right to be upset,” Harry let out. “Sirius was mine to save, he’s my godfather, I should’ve never dragged you along with me, any of you.”</p><p>“You didn’t drag us,” Cedric said. “We wanted to go with you, <em>I </em>wanted to go with you.”</p><p>“Look, Ced,” Harry sighed, “I’m just saying I understand, alright? I understand why your father is upset, I can’t blame him.”</p><p>“Then you must understand that I can’t let you be responsible for my decisions,” Cedric replied firmly.</p><p>“Cedric,” Harry started.</p><p>“Listen to me, please,” Cedric interrupted him. “Leave my father to me, alright? I understand if you don’t want to go have dinner at our house, or if you think you’ll feel uncomfortable, I understand, I do.”</p><p>“Ced,” Harry tried again.</p><p>“Harry, please let me finish,” Cedric continued. “But promise you’ll think about it, please?”</p><p>“Cedric,” Harry sighed.</p><p>“I don’t want you to feel like you’re not welcome at my home, because you are,” Cedric said. “Just think about it, will you?”</p><p>“I will,” Harry gave up. “I promise.”</p><p>“Thank you, Harry,” Cedric beamed at him. “I have to go now.”</p><p>“Yeah, me too, Florian must be waiting for me to get inside,” Harry said. “Have a nice day, Ced.”</p><p>“Good luck on your last day as an ice cream scooper,” Cedric gave him a quick peck on the forehead. “I’ll see you soon.”</p><p> </p><p>“Close behind you, will you?” Florian Fortescue stood on the first step of the stairwell that led to his apartment upstairs.</p><p>“I will, Mr. Fortescue,” Harry said. “And thank you, for giving me a chance.”</p><p>“You’re welcome here anytime, Mr. Potter,” Fortescue gave him a reassuring smile. “You’re young, enjoy the rest of the summer.”</p><p>“You too, Mr. Fortescue,” Harry said. “Goodnight.”</p><p>“Goodnight,” Florian replied before heading back upstairs.</p><p>Harry gave one last look at the ice cream parlour before leaving, the iron curtains covered the windows that led to the Alley outside and the tables were all inside, crammed against each other with the chairs on top of them, Harry had just swept the floor.</p><p>He sighed and closed the door behind him, he got out his wand and tapped the door’s lock three times, just as Florian had taught him, and, subsequently, Harry heard a small crack: the door was locked.</p><p>He had been walking to that exact same view all summer, but Harry was still in love with how Diagon Alley looked at dusk, a golden light filtered through the windows of the stores that were still open and people walked home with their families, there was a certain sense of achievement in the air.</p><p>Harry walked up to the Leaky Cauldron’s backyard, where Sirius was waiting for him, and as he did he thought of Cedric’s proposal. By the next day’s morning, Harry would already be at The Burrow with the Weasleys, and he’d be there for an entire week (a week that would feel like forever with the prospect of the <em>Quidditch </em>World Cup so near in the future). Suddenly, having dinner with the Diggorys didn’t seem like such a farfetched idea, Harry couldn’t help but wonder if someday that could be possible with the Malfoys, perhaps if Lucius liked him more, perhaps if his scar didn’t burn at the mere thought of him.</p><p> </p><p>Perhaps if the nightmares stopped.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter on the comments below.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Rematch at The Burrow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Luna Lovegood is introduced and Harry and Cedric finally have their rematch.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Oh, how I missed writing quidditch scenes. :)<br/>I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 4:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Rematch at The Burrow.</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>After a couple of days at the Burrow, Harry had come to realize what did The Burrow had, as a home, that Grimmauld Place lacked, and after some careful thinking, he had come to a conclusión: chaos. Grimmauld Place had some chaotic things, that was for sure, Walburga Black’s screaming portrait among them, however, it did not have the cozy kind of chaos that The Burrow had.</p><p>To Harry, every morning spent at The Burrow had a sort of golden tint imprinted on it, magic could be seen in every corner, from the knitting needles suspended on the air already helping Mrs. Weasley with that year’s Christmas jerseys to the dishes floating on their way back to the cupboard after every meal, but Harry’s favourite thing about the Burrow, besides Molly Weasley’s cooking, was the improvised <em>Quidditch </em>Pitch the Weasleys had built on the fields behind their home.</p><p>Ever since Harry arrived, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, and Harry would grab some of the Weasleys’ enchanted brooms from Arthur’s garage and made teams to have a few <em>quidditch </em>matches after breakfast, while the morning breeze could still cool them off after an agitated match.</p><p>That morning, however, for the first time that week, Ron, Ginny, and Harry found themselves on what was close to become the losing side.</p><p>“Ginny,” Ron said as he hopped off his broom, he had just asked for a time out, “can’t you call your friend, what’s-her-name, to give us a hand?”</p><p>Harry sighed in relief, every helping hand would be welcome. That week he had witnessed first-hand what Oliver Wood, Marcus Flint’s boyfriend, meant when he said Charlie Weasley was one of the greatest seekers he had ever seen.</p><p>“For the last time, Ronald,” Ginny exhaled in frustration, “her name is Luna, and she doesn’t strike me as the sporty type.”</p><p>“Luna? Luna Lovegood?” Harry frowned.</p><p>“Umm… yes, I didn’t know you knew her,” Ginny replied.</p><p>“I don’t, last year I overheard Cedric and Cho Chang speaking about her,” Harry said.</p><p>“And what were they saying?” Ginny got defensive.</p><p>“Cho came to him, actually. It seemed Luna was being bullied,” Harry told Ginny. “They were trying to figure out a way to watch over her without her knowing, given that Cedric is a prefect and all that.”</p><p>“Luna is very interesting,” Ginny said. “Half the time she doesn’t notice people are actually making fun of her, bless her heart, but last year some of her belongings started disappearing…”</p><p>“Yes, that’s what Cho said!” Harry added to Ginny’s claims.<br/>“… and she blames <em>nargles</em>,” Ginny continued, “but I know for a fact that some of her housemates are the culprits.”</p><p>“Listen, Gin, I’m very sorry to hear about your friend,” Ron cleared his throat, “but unless she’s got some insane <em>quidditch</em> skills, can we please figure out a way to make it out of this match without getting our arses kicked?”</p><p>“Wait, didn’t you mention Diggory earlier?” Ginny turned to Harry, “He lives just behind that hill, doesn’t he?”</p><p>“I don’t know exactly,” Harry turned to Ron for answers. “He does?”</p><p>“Yes,” Ron’s face lit up. “We should tell him to come.”</p><p>“What? Why?” Harry panicked.</p><p>“In case you haven’t noticed, we’re three against four,” Ron said. “And we’re getting our arses kicked, Cedric could make a difference.”</p><p>“Well, I’m not going to be the one to tell them about our supposed new addition,” Harry tilted his head toward Fred and George.</p><p>“I’ll handle them,” Ginny patted Ron’s back before running off to her older brothers.</p><p>Fred and George were quick to say no, as expected, Bill and Charlie, however, had a soft spot for their little sister and both agreed that it was only fair that they added one more player to their team.</p><p>After the good news, Harry, Ron, and Ginny headed back inside the house, where they encountered Hermione and Mrs. Weasley on opposite couches inside the living room, Hermione was reading <em>Hogwarts: A History </em>while Mrs. Weasley hummed to her favourite Celestina Warbeck record.</p><p>“Is something the matter?” Mrs. Weasley raised an eyebrow as they entered the house.</p><p>“We need to get in contact with the Diggorys,” Ron said.</p><p>“And the Lovegoods,” Ginny added almost in a whisper.</p><p>“Well, why don’t you use that darling little owl Sirius gave you in compensation for… well… <em>Scabbers</em>?” Molly asked Ron.</p><p>“We’re in the middle of a match, you see,” Ron said.</p><p>“And one letter is heavy enough for <em>Pigwidgeon</em>, imagine if we tied <em>another</em> to him,” Ginny added.</p><p>“Well, send <em>Hedwig </em>then, I’m sure Harry wouldn’t mind,” Molly suggested.</p><p>“Mum, it’s urgent!” Ginny replied before Harry could say anything.</p><p>“Well, what exactly would you have me do?!” Mrs. Weasley scoffed. “Use a telephone?!”</p><p>“I’d be happy to teach you if you’d like, Mrs. Weasley,” Hermione’s head peeked from the pages of her book.</p><p>“Well, why don’t you use the Floo Network, huh?” Ginny suggested. “You don’t seem to have an issue with it when you spend hours gossiping with Mrs. Diggory through the fireplace.”</p><p>“Follow me then,” Molly replied reluctantly.</p><p>“The fireplace?” Harry asked Ron as they followed Mrs. Weasley to the fireplace.</p><p>“Wait and see,” Ron smiled mischievously, aware of how the wizarding world still had some surprises in store for his best friend.</p><p>Hermione, consumed by curiosity, walked towards them the moment Mrs. Weasley crouched in front of the fireplace.</p><p>“The Diggorys!” Molly Weasley screamed at the fireplace as she threw a handful of Floo Powder at it.</p><p>Green flames jumped so high from the fireplace the second the Floo Powder came in contact with it Harry actually feared for Molly Weasley’s eyebrows for a second.</p><p>“Amos, yes?” Molly inquired at the fire as if they were in the middle of a seánce.</p><p>“What is it, Molly?” Amos Diggory’s all to familiar face emerged from the fireplace.</p><p>“What do I ask him?!” Molly whispered as she turned to them.</p><p>“Ask him to let Cedric come for a match,” Ginny told her mother.</p><p>“The children wanted me to ask you if you’d let Cedric come for a match,” Molly turned to the green flames again.</p><p>“A match? As in a <em>quidditch </em>match?” Mr. Diggory inquired.</p><p>“Well, of course,” Molly rolled her eyes. “So, will you let him come?”</p><p>“Is that Potter boy still there?” Amos almost complained.</p><p>“His name is Harry, Amos,” Mrs. Weasley restrained herself from scolding the man. “And yes, he’s here.”</p><p>“Good, then we’re going, too,” Amos replied.</p><p>“<em>We</em>? As in you and Celine?” Molly frowned.</p><p>“Yes, Cedric won’t admit he won fairly against him last year, so this will be a good chance to see what he’s really made of,” Mr. Diggory said.</p><p>“Suit yourself,” Molly scoffed as she broke the connection. “Honestly, that man.”</p><p>Harry and his friends looked at each other uncomfortably, had Amos Diggory just challenged him to a match on Cedric’s behalf?</p><p>“You better head outside while I speak with Xenophilius, you know how strange he can get,” Molly told them. “What do you want me to say to him?”</p><p>“Just ask for Luna,” Ginny instructed. “Tell her we’re in dire need of a commentator.”</p><p>“Alright, out you go then,” Molly said.</p><p>Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny sat on the grass outside The Burrow like grounded children when Bill, Charlie, and the twins walked up to them.</p><p>“So?” Fred raised an eyebrow. “When are you reinforcements arriving?”</p><p>“There’s been a change of plans,” Harry said bitterly. “Amos Diggory woke up feeling feisty.”</p><p> </p><p>Ginny was the first to greet Luna Lovegood, a waist-lengthed, dirty blonde haired girl with very pale eyebrows that made her seem perpetually surprised, after she arrived at The Burrow. Both girls squealed in excitement before embracing each other into the tightest of hugs.</p><p>“I made this for you,” Luna handed Ginny a butterbeer cork handmade necklace from her pocket.</p><p>“She shouldn’t have bothered,” Ron muttered.</p><p>“I believe introductions are in order,” Luna turned to Ron, she had heard him.</p><p>Harry thought the way Luna walked made her look like she was floating, she looked as if she had just walked out of a dream.</p><p>“Luna, this is my idiot brother, Ronald,” Ginny said. “And these are mine and Ronald’s friends, Harry and Hermione.”</p><p>“It’s so nice to meet all of you,” Luna replied and Ron scoffed.</p><p>Ginny intended to introduce Luna to her older brothers (she thought Luna and Charlie would get along very well) but then, the Diggorys apparated followed by a loud crack.</p><p>“You alright, Ced?” Amos asked his son, whose face looked green-ish.</p><p>“You could have warned me,” Cedric complained.</p><p>“You are going to be taught how to apparate at the end of the school year anyway,” Amos dismissed his son. “The sooner you get acquainted with the sensation, the better.”</p><p>“Ced,” Harry crouched beside him. “Are you alright?”</p><p>“Harry,” Cedric smiled through his discomfort. “I am, just a little lightheaded, it’ll pass.”</p><p>“Mr. and Mrs. Diggory, good morning,” Harry looked up at Cedric’s parents. “Glad you could make it.”</p><p>“Good morning, Harry dear,” Celine greeted him.</p><p>“When’s the match starting anyway?” Amos asked, ignoring Harry’s greeting.</p><p>“Once <em>your son</em> is feeling better, I’d prefer,” Harry muttered much to Cedric’s delight.</p><p>Amos Diggory grunted in response and he, his wife, and basically, everyone else waited on the sidelines of the Weasleys’s improvised <em>Quidditch </em>Pitch. When Cedric finally managed to get up on his own, Fred and George, following Ginny’s orders, had already given Luna Lovegood a megaphone they had enchanted when they were twelve: she was going to narrate the game.</p><p>It was only after Harry and Cedric approached the others that they made teams: Harry’s team consisted of Ron, Ginny, and Bill, while Cedric had both the twins and Charlie on his, Harry wanted to make Amos Diggory swallow his own bitterness, but it wouldn’t be easy.</p><p>“I’ll be the referee,” Amos announced as he walked between them.</p><p>“Actually, Mr. Diggory, that’s Hermione’s job,” Harry took great pleasure in contradicting Cedric’s father.</p><p>“Well, I don’t see how Miss Granger could possibly be an impartial referee,” Amos mocked him.</p><p>“I’m not anyone’s mother, am I?” Hermione was quick to take his friend’s side.</p><p>“Fine,” Amos spat. “Begin then.”</p><p>Everyone hopped on their brooms while the Diggorys, Hermione, Luna, and even Mrs. Weasley, who had just run out of the house, took their place on the sidelines.</p><p>“Your mum didn’t strike me as much of a <em>quidditch </em>fan,” Harry told Ron as they rose into the air.</p><p>“She isn’t, but I’m sure she’d be delighted to see Mr. Diggory swallow his pride,” Ron grinned. “Especially after how he referred to you back in the fireplace.”</p><p>Hermione blew the whistle and released the Weasleys’s quaffle, bludger, and golden snitch into the air. Harry and Cedric both maintained their school positions as seekers in their respective teams, Cedric’s had Fred and George, who Harry knew to be quite formidable when together, as his beaters while Harry had Bill and Ron, his chaser was Ginny, Harry had never seen her play in another position besides seeker, but if she was even half as good a chaser as she was a seeker then the outcome couldn’t be better, of course the same could be said about the opposite team’s chaser: Charlie.</p><p>In the first few minutes of the match, Luna completely forgot to include the twins' incessant attempts at knocking Harry off his broom in her commentary, instead, she decided to give a metaphor-full description about how Ginny’s hair looked like fire when the wind blew through it.</p><p>“Luna,” Hermione’s voice could be heard slightly lower through the enchanted megaphone Luna held in her hands.</p><p>“Yes?” Luna asked quite puzzled.</p><p>“The game, Luna,” Hermione tried to politely disguise her exasperation. “Comment on the game.”</p><p>“Right, sorry,”</p><p>The Weasleys’ golden snitch was, in fact, anything but golden, it was quite an old ball, slightly covered in rust, which made it extremely hard for Harry to find it, especially when it disguised perfectly with the tonalities of the fields below them.</p><p>Hermione, who was the one flipping the scoreboard, was already getting tired of it. It seemed as if Ginny and Charlie were both taking turns scoring with the quaffle, however, Charlie still had the lead given that he had Fred and George swinging bludgers behind him. Bill, on Harry’s team, wasn’t bad either, but Ron… well, he was trying his best, and that was all that mattered.</p><p>“Try that again and you’re grounded for a month!” Mrs. Weasley shouted at George after he almost hit Ginny with a bludger.</p><p>George intended to defend himself from his mother but it was either that or avoiding Ginny scored again right under his nose and he chose the latter, swinging his bat at his little sister once again. Mrs. Weasley knew that that was how <em>quidditch </em>was and that his son was actually playing by the rules, but that didn’t stop her from threatening his son once more.</p><p>Cedric seemed to have the same problem Harry had with the snitch, it was almost invisible, they haven’t caught sight of it since Hermione had released it, and they needed to catch it soon, their teams already had half a match behind them and they were seemingly growing tired by the second.</p><p>Harry was considerably more tired than Cedric was, his glasses were slippery from his nose’s sweat and the previous match with the Weasley siblings was now taking a toll on him, if he was still going was purely out of spite. He understood Amos Diggory’s reasons to be upset with him, he had, after all, put Cedric in danger at the end of the last school year, but that didn’t justify Amos’s constant attempts to antagonize a fourteen-year-old.</p><p>If only he had his <em>Firebolt</em> with him Harry was sure he would have caught the snitch by then, but that specific broom would give him an unfair advantage against the others, so he had to make the best of the situation he found himself in.</p><p>“Cedric, over there!” Mr. Diggory shouted the snitch’s location.</p><p>“Amos!” Celine shushed him.</p><p>Cedric flashed across the Pitch followed by Harry, who was quickly approaching behind him. If there was something funny about snitches, it was that they seemed to notice when they were being chased after, and this one, specifically, was taking its liberties misleading the two boys behind it.</p><p>“Finally, the moment of truth,” Cedric smiled at Harry, who had just caught up with him and flew right next to his side. “May the best seeker win.”</p><p>Harry had to shake his thoughts of Cedric off his head. The older boy, who Harry had always found handsome, looked positively angelic with the morning sun shining behind his sandy hair and the clouds just a few meters above them.</p><p>“May the best seeker win,” Harry repeated after him as he held onto his broomstick.</p><p>Both seekers had enough experience to predict what the snitch’s next movement was going to be: after leading them all the way up to the clouds, the snitch dropped almost in free-fall and Harry and Cedric did their best to follow after it.</p><p>“If Harry Potter doesn’t grab his glasses they’re gonna fall off his sweaty nose!” Luna’s voice echoed through the megaphone.</p><p>Thanks a lot, Harry thought.</p><p>Their respective brooms were centimeters away from shattering into the ground when the snitch suddenly changed its course upwards, and Harry, with a stroke of luck, sneaked his hand right under Cedric’s and caught the snitch. Both boys lost their balance soon after and Hermione blew her whistle again as they rolled on the ground.</p><p>“We have a winner!” Luna announced as she helped Harry up.</p><p>The others descended and hopped off their brooms in a matter of seconds, the Diggorys went after their son and dusted his clothes with their hands after helping him up.</p><p>“You did well, son,” Amos patted Cedric’s back as they joined the others.</p><p>“Anything you’d like to say, Amos?” Molly Weasley raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“Yeah, you should really tell Arthur to polish that snitch,” Amos replied, “I could barely see it, and I wasn’t even hopped on a broom.”</p><p>“About the match, Amos,” Molly muttered.</p><p>“Oh, well, one can’t always have <em>luck</em> on their side, can they?” Amos said as he wrapped Cedric around his arm.</p><p>“One can’t always count on dementors to interrupt a match either,” Ginny snarled.</p><p>Cedric looked seemingly uncomfortable. If Amos Diggory wanted to push a childish rivalry towards Harry’s way, even though he had just seen him win fair and square, then fine, but from then on, Harry wouldn’t lead Mr. Diggory on, his friendship with Cedric was far more important to him than whatever feud his sore-loser of a father had in mind.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Don't worry, Amos will stop being obnoxius... sometime soon, I believe.<br/>Please let me know your thought on this chapter on the comments below.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The Portkey and the night before.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>TW: Mention of abuse.<br/>Dinner at the Diggorys' goes wrong, like really wrong.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey, guys, I'm back with a new chapter, sorry for not updating sooner, but this past few weeks have been some of the busisest weeks I've ever had.<br/>Anyway, here's next chapter, I hope you like it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 5:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>The <em>Portkey </em>and the night before.</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>Harry had come to the conclusión that he wasn’t in his right mind when he finally accepted Cedric’s invitation to dinner at his parents’. It was the night before leaving for the World Cup and Harry couldn’t help but wonder what jewel Molly Weasley had whipped out for dinner, instead, Harry stared at Amos Diggory from the other side at the table, the man held his fork as if he was planning on stabbing him after finishing his roast beef.</p><p>“So, Harry,” Celine Diggory started. “How’s life now that you don’t live at your aunt’s anymore? Cedric barely tells me anything.”</p><p>“It’s up to Harry to talk about that, mum,” Cedric said.</p><p>“Oh, it’s alright,” Harry tried his best to dodge Amos’s gaze as he spoke. “I don’t talk about my time at Privet Drive much, I don’t really like to—”</p><p>“Oh, pardon me,” Celine interrupted him, “you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t feel comfortable!”</p><p>“But I can tell you that living with Sirius and Remus is definitely an improvement,” Harry continued, brushing off Celine’s worries. “I feel very much at home.”</p><p>“Living with an ex-convict and a werewolf is hardly an improvement,” Amos muttered as he wiped off his mouth with a napkin.</p><p>“What was that, dear?” Celine turned to her husband, unaware of what he had to say.</p><p>“I said,” Amos’s voice grew louder with each word, “that living with an ex-convict and a werewolf is hardly an improvement.”</p><p>Harry’s jaw clenched at Amos Diggory’s words. He could convince himself Harry was a bad influence to his son, a danger even, Harry couldn’t care less, but Sirius and Remus were his family now, and he wouldn’t let anyone speak ill of his family in his presence, not even Cedric’s father, he drew the line at that.</p><p>“Dad!” Cedric turned to his father, almost warning him with his eyes.</p><p>“An ex-convict and a werewolf are pretty much an improvement, <em>sir</em>, given that my previous <em>caretakers</em>, if you can call them that, didn’t mind starving or abusing me,” Harry stared dead in Amos Diggory’s eyes. “I’m sure Cedric must have mentioned it, hmm?”</p><p>“H-he may have done that,” Cedric’s father cleared his throat.</p><p>“And even though I would choose Sirius and Remus a hundred times,” Harry continued, “I wasn’t in the position to decline my godfather’s offer to live with him since, months before that, my aunt had made it perfectly clear that I wasn’t welcome at Surrey anymore.”</p><p>“I, uh, I wasn’t aware of that,” Amos stammered. “However, I’m sure social services would have done—”</p><p>“Social services?” Harry scoffed. “Why would I resort to social services when my godfather is alive and perfectly well?”</p><p>“Perfectly well?” Amos Diggory forced a cackle that made chills run down Harry’s spine. “The man’s fresh out of Azkaban! He’s seen the darkest things this world has to offer.”</p><p>“He is innocent,” Harry got up from his chair.</p><p>“That doesn’t change what the last twelve years have been like for him, Mr. Potter,” Amos left his seat as well and stared at him from the other side of the table. “Whoever decided it’d be wise to put him in charge of a child obviously wasn’t in their right mind.”</p><p>“Dad,” Cedric called for him in an attempt to draw his attention from Harry. It didn’t work, of course.</p><p>“Sirius was wrongly imprisoned in the first place, so don’t even try to pin on him whatever trauma he acquired from twelve years in Azkaban!” Harry roared.</p><p>“All I’m saying is that a man like him isn’t fit for the huge responsibility that taking care of a child is,” Mr. Diggory hissed. “And then, add a werewolf to the mix, why don’t you?”</p><p>“Remus Lupin, werewolf or not, was a wonderful, talented, dedicated teacher in his own right,” Harry didn’t hesitate to reply. “Not compared to whoever will take his place and <em>certainly </em>not compared to those who held that post before him. Whatever happened at the end of the school year shouldn’t tarnish his accomplishments as a professor nor as a man.”</p><p>“<em>Whatever happened</em>?” Amos Diggory frowned. “He was careless, reckless! He attacked his students!”</p><p>“Under the effects of the full moon!” Harry raised his voice. “He’d never do that in full control of his body and mind!”</p><p>“He did nonetheless!” Mr. Diggory snapped at him.</p><p>“Dad, stop,” Cedric muttered.</p><p>“All this fuss,” Harry chuckled in frustration, in disbelief even. “All this fuss isn’t about my godfather or about professor Lupin, is it? So why don’t you tell me what is it that bothers you once and for all, huh?”</p><p>“Oh, I’ll tell you,” Amos pointed his bony finger at him. “You bother me! Your recklessness bothers me! You dragging my son to what could have been his death bothers me!”</p><p>“Amos, that’s enough!” Mrs. Diggory cried as she slammed her fists on the table.</p><p>They all stared at Celine in perplexity before she got up and dragged her husband by the arm to the kitchen, leaving Harry and Cedric alone in the dining room.</p><p>“Cedric, I’m sorr—”</p><p>“Don’t you dare apologize,” Cedric cut in. “I’m serious, Harry.”</p><p>Harry could tell Cedric was upset, how could he not be? But he couldn’t tell who he was upset with, was it him? Was it his father? The discussion taking place in the kitchen wasn’t helping cool things off either.</p><p>“It’s about time you accept that Cedric can make his own choices!” Celine’s voice could be heard through the walls.</p><p>“He is a child!” Amos cried. “He could’ve gotten hurt, or worse!”</p><p>“Harry is a child, too!” Celine snapped. “How do you think you look quarreling with a child? One of Cedric’s friends?”</p><p>“His… audacity!” Amos yelled. “How dare he talk to me in that tone? In my own house?!”</p><p>“What was he supposed to do then, huh?” Celine’s voice had a hint of defiance. “Listen to you, a grown man, slandering the only family he’s ever known? I don’t think so. And good for him, for standing up for his family <em>and</em> for himself.”</p><p>“What about Cedric, then?” Harry could almost listen to the internal machinations in Amos Diggory’s head, the urge to change the subject. “Are you going to defend him on that, too? When your son, your <em>only</em> son, could have died, or worse?”</p><p>“It was Cedric who insisted on going with Harry, for Merlin’s beard!” Celine snapped at her husband. “Do I endorse Cedric’s actions? Do I want him to put himself in danger? No! But we weren’t really there to prevent it, were we?”</p><p>Silence reigned at the Diggory’s after the last echo of Mrs. Diggory’s words rebounded on the walls. Harry felt uncomfortable listening to the Diggorys private conversation, and, as for Cedric, he looked almost on the verge of tears.</p><p>“Cedric is a teenager, Amos,” Celine lowered her voice, “it doesn’t matter how much we want to, we can’t always be there, we can’t always protect him, and he… he’s bound to make mistakes, he’s bound to get himself hurt, that’s part of growing up.”</p><p>“So what, we just give up?” Amos inquired. “Let him walk off to his fate, doesn’t matter how deadly?”</p><p>“I <em>never </em>said that,” Celine said. “But he’s soon to be sixteen, we need to start trusting him and the choices he makes, and <em>you</em>… you need to stop blaming a fourteen-year-old boy for said choices just to clear your conscience.”</p><p>Harry didn’t realize when he had sat down again, but there he was, standing up once more, muttering an apology at Cedric as he brushed past his chair in an attempt to find that house’s exit, his heart racing.</p><p>He left the door open as the cold winds of that summer’s night blew on his face, making his eyes tear up a bit. He had the feeling, no, the certainty, that Cedric would come after him.</p><p>“You have nothing to apologize for,” he heard Cedric’s voice behind him, it was deeper than usual, more sentimental.</p><p>“Judging by your tone, I think I am,” Harry looked at his feet.</p><p>“Harry, I’m not mad at <em>you</em>,” Cedric walked closer toward him. “How could I? I’m mad at him.”</p><p>“But the way I behaved…” Harry couldn’t finish that sentence or the next to come. “The way I talked to him… He’s right, your father—”</p><p>“My father had no business speaking to you like that,” Cedric said. “And I’m sorry.”</p><p>“You won’t accept my apology, and I certainly won’t accept yours,” Harry chuckled. “Where does that lead us?”</p><p>“I don’t know, where were you going?” Cedric asked him.</p><p>“The Burrow, it’s getting late and something tells me dinner is over,” Harry replied.</p><p>“Let me take you then,” Cedric offered.</p><p>“It’s getting late,” Harry repeated himself. “Even if we go now, you’ll be back home past midnight.”</p><p>“Only if we go by foot,” Cedric said, the undescribable deepness of his voice was now replaced by an almost childish twinkle in his eyes.</p><p>Harry obliged. And he waited there, under the night sky, with his feet buried in the meadow, as Cedric ran back to his house to get his broom. Harry’s stomach churned in excitement as he waited for Cedric, and when he did, running and panting, he dropped the broom to the ground, but just before it actually reached the ground it stopped, and then rose in the air a little above their waists.</p><p>“It’s probably too late to ask this,” Harry said as Cedric hopped on the broom, “but, can the Ministry, you know, <em>tell</em> if we use our brooms in the <em>muggle </em>world.”</p><p>Cedric stared at the younger boy, who looked conflicted, and laughed right in his face.</p><p>“What? It is a valid question!” Harry glared at him. “Flying from house to house is quite different than having a <em>quidditch </em>match at The Burrow, which is hidden from <em>muggles</em> according to Ron.”</p><p>“No, you’re right, it’s a valid question,” Cedric disguised the remains of his laugh as a cough. “Lucky for us, brooms aren’t traceable by the Ministry, besides, it’s even less likely we’ll be seen in the night sky.”</p><p>“I see,” Harry muttered.</p><p>“So, are you coming or not?” Cedric raised an eyebrow at him.</p><p>“Of course I am, I don’t plan on walking back to the Weasleys,” Harry replied as he hopped on the broom, just behind Cedric.</p><p>Cedric kicked the ground after he felt the weight of Harry’s body behind him and his broom started to rise slowly in the air, if the night was already cold after they left the house, and the cold increased as they rose towards the night sky.</p><p>“Hold on tight,” Cedric told Harry as he prepared to gain speed.</p><p>“Calm down, <em>Firebolt</em>,” Harry teased him.</p><p>“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Cedric looked at him from the corner of his eye before grabbing the broomstick and start speeding up.</p><p>For a while, the speed felt pleasant, the wind blew right into Harry’s face and ears, and suddenly he didn’t care about the cold at all, but as the seconds passed he felt more and more like Draco when they tried to get to the <em>quidditch </em>final in time.</p><p>Eventually, Harry’s hand turned numb from holding onto the broomstick with no control regarding how fast they were flying, so he gave up, and instead wrapped his arms around Cedric’s torso and rested his head on his back, and he wondered what took him so long.</p><p>He could feel the thin fabric of Cedric’s jersey on his cheek and, if he pushed his ear closer to Cedric’s body he could even hear the older boy’s irregular breathing. He didn’t notice when, but suddenly, the countryside’s starry skies were replaced by total darkness, Harry had closed his eyes, however, he didn’t get a chance to sleep, since in what felt like seconds, Cedric’s silky voice returned him back to reality, and when he opened his eyes again, the tall, crooked, wooden building that The Burrow was stood before them.</p><p>“Harry, we’re here,” Cedric said almost carefully.</p><p>“Right, right,” Harry nodded as he let go of his friend’s body.</p><p>“You okay?” Cedric asked him.</p><p>“Totally,” Harry replied, hopping off the broom. “Thanks for the ride.”</p><p>“Anytime,” Cedric winked at him. “And sorry about tonight, dinner wasn’t meant to go that way.”</p><p>Harry stared at Cedric, who hadn’t hopped off his broom, and almost scolded himself for wondering if there was a secret meaning behind the older boy’s words.</p><p>“If you won’t let <em>me</em> apologize, then why would I let you?” Harry finally replied. “Goodnight, Ced, have a smooth flight back home.”</p><p>“Goodnight, Harry,” Cedric smiled slightly before kicking the ground and rising into the night.</p><p>Right, Harry thought as he turned the doorknob and got inside The Burrow, the morning coziness was nowhere to be seen, and proof of that was the desolated living room Harry found himself sneaking into… desolated, or so he thought.</p><p>“Harry!” Mrs. Weasley almost jumped at him as she wrapped her arms around his neck.</p><p>“Mrs. Weasley!” Harry gasped. “Is everything alright?”</p><p>“You tell me, when Celine told me you’d be going there for dinner I never imagined you’d get back here so late,” Molly told him.</p><p>“Oh, I’m sorry about that,” Harry looked at his feet in embarrassment. “It never even crossed my mind that you might wait up for me.”</p><p>“Oh, don’t apologize, it’s alright!” Molly assured him. “It went well, I presume? Dinner with the in-laws, huh?”</p><p>Molly gave him a playful smile as she elbowed him softly, Harry’s eyes went as wide as plates.</p><p>“T-the in-laws?” Harry almost choked in his own spit. “Mrs. Weasley, I think you’ve got the wrong idea about Ced and me.”</p><p>“Oh? Are you two not a couple?” Mrs. Weasley looked genuinely surprised. “I was watching you from the window, quite romantic, you know, taking you home on his broom. Very different from flying that Ford Anglia all the way to Hogwarts with Ron.”</p><p>“Yeah, Cedric was just giving me a ride,” Harry smiled uncomfortably, thankful for the darkness in the room. “But, err, no, we’re not together.”</p><p>“I see,” Molly replied with a hint of disappointment in her voice. “For a while, we thought you might try to get together with Draco Malfoy, you know? But that was when you were younger, my Ginny was devastated.”</p><p>“I’m sorry?” Harry cleared his throat.</p><p>“One can only speculate, I guess. It’s been a while since Ron last told me what you were up to,” Molly sighed. “Goodnight, Harry.”</p><p>And with that, Molly Weasley disappeared into the stairwell, back into her bedroom. Harry chuckled lightly and climbed the stairwell as well and when he arrived at Ron’s bedroom he opened the door as slow as he could, wary of the creaking Harry had now gotten used to.</p><p>“How was dinner with the in-.laws?” Ron mimicked his mum’s voice from the comfort of his bed.</p><p>“You heard that?” Harry chuckled as he searched for his pajamas in his trunk’s insides.</p><p>“Yeah, but seriously, how was it?” Ron asked him.</p><p>“Chaotic,” Harry let out a deep sigh.</p><p>“Why? What happened?” Ron sat up on his bed.</p><p>“I’ll tell you in the morning, alright?” Harry threw himself at Ron’s bed, just beside him. “I’m pretty tired and something tells me we won’t be enjoying waking up early in a few hours.”</p><p>“Yeah, goodnight, mate.”</p><p>“And, Ron?”</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“Stop telling your mother about ‘<em>what I‘ve been up</em> <em>to</em>’, as she says,” Harry chucked.</p><p>“Consider it done, mate,” Ron laughed. “Goodnight.”</p><p>“Goodnight.”</p><p>And as Harry closed his eyes and surrendered to his own exhaustion, he almost begged his subconscious that, if he was to dream about a Malfoy family member, he’d be delighted for it to be Draco instead of his father.</p><p>Just for tonight, Harry pleaded to himself.</p><p> </p><p>But it wasn’t up to Harry who he dreamt about, and after that night’s nightmare, he almost jumped to Hermione’s arms in gratitude when she came inside Ron’s bedroom to wake them up. The nightmare had been different that night, he wasn’t watching from an omniscient point of view, it felt almost as if he was involved in the murder of that old man, and when he stumbled into that room, Harry found himself proudly standing between Voldemort, who looked frail, small, and almost inhuman, Lucius Malfoy, and that man, the one Harry didn’t know, when the curse that killed the old man struck him down.</p><p>“Harry? Are you alright?” Ron asked him. “You’re all sweaty, is it the nightmares again?”</p><p>“Nightmares?” Hermione turned to them on her way out of Ron’s bedroom.</p><p>“It’s nothing,” Harry dismissed his friends' worries.</p><p>“It doesn’t look like nothing to me,” Hermione crossed her arms and closed the door behind her.</p><p>Harry knew right there and then that there was no use in hiding anything from Hermione, so he sat up in Ron’s bed and told her the same thing he had told the redhead at his birthday party at Grimmauld Place.</p><p>“And Draco knows this?” Hermione asked him, looking pale.</p><p>“I haven’t told him yet,” Harry admitted. “I didn’t really get a chance to talk to him at Grimmauld Place.”</p><p>“Harry, you need to tell him,” Hermione glanced at him.</p><p>“I agree,” Ron said.</p><p>“And what am I supposed to tell him?” Harry looked at both his friends. “‘Hey, so, I’ve been having some bad dreams and they had led me to suspect that your father is in cahoots with the Dark Lord, so maybe that’s why he’s more absent than usual’? I don’t think so.”</p><p>“Just… word it differently, alright?” Hermione sighed. “Besides the World Cup is the perfect chance to tell him, he’s going to be there, too.”</p><p>“What? How do you even know that?” Ron asked her.</p><p>“I may or may not have heard Narcissa tell Sirius that as they said their goodbyes at your party,” Hermione had a certain twinkle in her eyes. “Make with that what you will.”</p><p>“But you have to tell Draco, I don’t think that’s up for discussion,” Ron added.</p><p>“And perhaps even Sirius and Professor Lupin,” Hermione said before leaving the room. “Get dressed, we’re leaving in ten minutes.”</p><p>Harry and Ron groaned in response but still did as they were told, Ginny was the only person under that roof that was, perhaps, even more excited than they were for the World Cup.</p><p> </p><p>Mrs. Weasley handed each of them a sandwich as they stepped out of the Burrow into the clearing surrounding it, the sky above them was still dark as only a glimpse of sunlight could be seen far in the horizon.</p><p>“Have fun and be safe!” Mrs. Weasley waved at them as they walked away.</p><p>After walking for what was maybe three miles, the group arrived at what Harry recognized as the front yard of the Diggory cottage. It was a colourful, charming, two-story home with plants crawling up their walls, magical plants, no doubt. Soon after they got there, Amos and Cedric stepped out the door, looking indifferent to one another.</p><p>“Amos!” Arthur Weasley greeted his colleague. “I heard you visited us the other day to watch our childrens’ match.”</p><p>“Ah, yes, and what a match it was,” Amos replied without, surprisingly, sounding snarky.</p><p>Cedric walked by himself, a few meters away from the rest of the group. As Harry and Ron, he looked tired from staying up late last night. Harry intended to walk up to him when Ron grabbed him by the arm.</p><p>“What did you told me happened last night at the Diggorys’? Ron whispered.</p><p>“I didn’t,” Harry replied.</p><p>“Well, now would be a good time,” Ron turned his gaze to the distance between Cedric and his father.</p><p>“Long story short, Amos was an arse to me, trash-talked Sirius and Remus, and then, to top it all off, we argued from side to side of the table as Cedric and Mrs. Diggory finished their roast beef,” Harry spoke as fast as Hermione. “Mrs. Diggory broke off the argument slamming her fists on the table and then I left the house after attempting to apologize to Ced, but he wouldn’t let me. In the end, he gave me a ride to your house, and that’s about it.”</p><p>“Wow, that’s… quite the story,” Ron said, stunned. “Does your tongue hurt?”</p><p>“What? No! Why would it hurt?” Harry frowned.</p><p>“You spoke abnormally fast,” Ron replied. “Like, really, abnormally, unusually fast.”</p><p>“Oh, shut up,” Harry chuckled. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go see if I have damaged beyond repair a father-son relationship.”</p><p>“Good luck,” Ron said as Harry broke off of his grip.</p><p>Harry’s steps were slow-paced, careful as to not walk over any leaves. For some reason, he felt like approaching Cedric without anyone else watching was the best course of action, and Ginny’s voice asking her father about her older brothers was just the perfect distraction.</p><p>“They’ll catch up with us later on,” Arthur explained. “We left early to catch the <em>Portkey </em>since none of you can apparate yet.”</p><p>“Hey, Ced?” Harry tapped him on the shoulder.</p><p>“Harry, good morning,” Cedric nodded in indifference.</p><p>“How are you?” Harry asked very carefully.</p><p>“I… don’t know,” Cedric sighed. “When I got home my father was already asleep and my mother was waiting for me, we talked for a while.”</p><p>“Oh, what about?” Harry asked under the risk of coming off as nosy.</p><p>“About my father… and about you,” Cedric replied.</p><p>“Oh,”</p><p>“She asked me to tell you that she doesn’t blame you for what happened last night, and neither do I,” Cedric replied. “As for my father, well, my mother talked to him after we left, but we’re not really on speaking terms as of right now.”</p><p>“I noticed, I’m sorry, Ced,” Harry muttered.</p><p>Cedric nodded at him as if saying “don’t be” and kept walking beside him.</p><p>Mr. Weasley and Mr. Diggory, who had taken upon the chore to lead them to the <em>Portkey</em>, stopped walking at the top of a hill, and when they all caught up to them, Fred and George’s cackling resonated in the air.</p><p>“Is that the <em>Portkey</em>?” George pointed at the old, dirty boot in the middle of the assembly.</p><p>“Well, yes,” his father replied shyly.</p><p>“Well, thank Merlin touching it with only one finger will suffice to make it work, then,” Fred chuckled.</p><p>Arthur Weasley counted down to three, and after that, everyone placed a single finger on the boot. Harry had never wanted to puke more in his life than in that moment, everything around him was blurry, and he was sure they were all gravitating around the boot, his finger felt as if it was glued to the boot’s dirty fabric and he had the strangest sensation down in his belly, it felt as if a hook pulled him from his belly button. When the <em>Portkey </em>finally let go of them, Harry had learned one single thing: he didn’t like <em>Portkeys.</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>You know what they say, "it gets worse before it gets better", and that's precisely what I mean to do with Amos Diggory.<br/>This was a very dramatic chapter, I know and I'm sorry, lol. It took me so long to get that argument between Amos and Harry "right", I had so many discarded drafts, but in the end I chose that one.<br/>Draco is finally showing up again on the next chapter! I've tried to include mentions of him here and there because he's been absent since Harry's birthday party but that's over now.<br/>And lastly, I've been thinking about creating a Discord server, not just to talk about this series, but about Harry Potter in general, I thought it might be cool, but I don't know.<br/>Anyway, please tell me your thoughts on this chapter (and on the Discord thing, lol) on the comments below.<br/>Have a nice weekend, everyone!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Bickering on the staircase.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group gets to the Quidditch World Cup's campsite.<br/>Harry and Draco settle things.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey guys, I'm finally back from the dead, I'm sorry, life has been kicking my butt lately but at long last, here's another chapter. </p><p>I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 6:</strong><br/>
<strong>Bickering on the staircase.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>The <em>Portkey</em> threw everyone, except for the Diggorys and Mr Weasley, harshly on the grass. Sirius and Remus had made it look so easy at the end of the last school year,  when they left Hogwarts to get Grimmauld Place ready for him, Harry thought. Harry landed on his stomach and he crouched for a few seconds, rapidly breathing in and out in order to gain enough strength to stand up.</p><p>“Need a hand?” Cedric offered, not a hair in his head was out of place.</p><p>Harry thought of declining out of pure pride, but he ended up deciding that he couldn’t afford to do that. He grabbed Cedric's hand and the older boy pulled him up in an instant.</p><p>Harry looked around at the sudden change of landscape, they were at the top of a hill, the meadow they found themselves standing on had grass so tall it almost reached their knees, in fact, Fred and George, who had landed the farthest, had a few strands of grass hanging from their heads.</p><p>“Right, this way everyone,” Mr Weasley said as he started walking downhill with Amos Diggory by his side.</p><p>Every step the group took at the clearing downhill, got them deeper inside an strange looking white mist. When they finally got to the clear Harry could barely distinguish what stood before him.</p><p>“And you are?” a man walked up to them with a few papers on his hands.</p><p>“The Weasleys", Arthur replied.</p><p>“And the Diggorys,” Mr Diggory added. “Are you Mr Roberts?”</p><p>“That’s right,” Mr Roberts replied as he turned his eyes to the list on his hands. “Weasley... Diggory... ah, there you are!” </p><p>“We'll pay ahead,” Arthur said as he got out some muggle money from his front pocket. “Harry, do you mind?”</p><p>“Are you foreigners?” Mr Roberts asked as Harry counted the money on his hand. </p><p>“No,” Amos replied before Arthur could open his mouth. “We're not.”</p><p>Harry finished counting and gave Mr Weasley back the coins. By then, Amos had gotten out his money as well but he decided to ask Hermione for help instead.</p><p>“Are you sure you’re not foreigners?” Mr Roberts asked again, lower than before.</p><p>“W-why would you say that?” Hermione asked Mr Roberts just after Amos had paid him.</p><p>“It’s just that we’ve very busy today, lots of foreigners, lots of freaks,” Mr Roberts started rambling. “At one point someone wanted to pay me with a golden coin as big as my—"</p><p>“<em>Obliviate</em>,” a wizard who had appeared out of nowhere pointed his wand at Mr Roberts. </p><p>Mr Roberts eyes lost direction for an instant, Harry had seen the consequences of memory charms before, back when Gilderoy Lockhart had tried to hex them at the Chamber of Secrets. </p><p>“Here’s a map of the campsite,” Mr Roberts smiled at them. “Enjoy your stay!”</p><p>The wizard that obliviated Mr Roberts walked beside them as they entered the campsite, he seemed to know both Mr Weasley and Mr Diggory, a fellow Ministry employee, probably. </p><p>“I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had to use that spell on him today,” the wizard told Mr Weasley. “Of course it doesn’t help that Ludo Bagman continues to walk from side to side of the campsite yelling about <em>bludgers</em> and <em>quaffles</em>.”</p><p>Mr Weasley seemed uncomfortable at the mention of Ludo Bagman, Harry himself didn’t know the man, but Percy Weasley had mentioned him before back at the Burrow, apparently, Mr Crouch, Percy’s boss, wasn’t exactly fond of Ludo Bagman.</p><p>“Oh no, here he comes,” the wizard said, almost panicking. “Good luck, Arthur. Amos.”</p><p>Judging by the tone on the wizard’s voice, Harry expected Ludo Bagman to be a tall, intimidating man in a powerful position, but he was none of them, except perhaps for the latter. Ludo Bagman looked like an overgrown child stuck in a middle aged man’s body, he had short, blond hair and wide, blue eyes, his nose looked as if a bludger had mercilessly landed on it and it wasn’t properly healed afterwards, and he was wearing an ill-fitted <em>quidditch</em> robe. As ridiculous as the man was, he was still Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports and a former beater for the Wimbourne Wasps and the English National <em>Quidditch</em> team.</p><p>“Arthur, Amos! What do you think?” Lugo Bagman greeted them as he spun around, pointing at the campsite. “Wonderful, is it not? I haven’t found anything to do the all day!”</p><p>Harry almost choked on the irony of Ludo Bagman's words.</p><p>“Yeah, wonderful,” Amos replied, not even as half as enthusiastically. </p><p>“Haven’t had luck finding your tents?” Ludo asked them. “Perhaps I can be of assistance.”</p><p>“I think we'll be alright, Ludo, thank you,” Arthur replied as he waved the campsite's map they had gotten from Mr Roberts. </p><p>“Alright then, Weasley,” Ludo replied, not losing an ounce of enthusiasm. “And who are all these young men and women?”</p><p>“This is my son, Cedric,” Amos placed his hand on Cedric's shoulder. </p><p>“Handsome fella,” Ludo smiled as he shook Cedric’s hand, much to the boy's discomfort. </p><p>“And yours, Arthur?” Mr Bagman inquired.</p><p>“Oh, these are Fred and George, then there’s my youngest, Ginny, and finally, my second youngest,  Ron, and his friends: Hermione Granger and Harry Potter,” Arthur replied. “My three eldests are getting here later.”</p><p>But Mr Bagman had not listened to one word Mr Weasley said after Harry’s name.</p><p>“Mr Potter, it’s an honour to finally meet you,” Bagman offered his hand.</p><p>“Likewise,” Harry replied almost without moving his lips.</p><p>“Are you here alone? Perhaps I can find you a tent to stay in,” said Bagman.</p><p>“He’s here with us, right, Harry?” Ron got closer to Harry. “Besides, his godfather is getting here later today.”</p><p>“Godfather?” Mr Bagman blinked in confusion. “I didn’t know <em>the</em> Harry Potter had a godfather.”</p><p>“Sirius Black,” Fred told the man. “You might have heard of him.”</p><p>“Ah, yes, I have,” Bagman replied. “He rejected the tickets I offered him on the Ministry’s behalf.”</p><p>“You’d do well to remember to not reveal the Ministry’s private affairs, Ludo,” a voice said behind them. “Specially this year’s events.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t dare to ruin the surprise, Mr Crouch.”</p><p>Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation stood behind them, neatly dressed and with his signature toothbrush moustache hanging above his lips. Percy Weasley stood beside his boss, looking very posh.</p><p>“Perce, when did you get here?” one of the twins asked, completely ignoring Crouch's intervention. </p><p>“Not now, George,” Percy replied sharply before clearing his throat.</p><p>“Amos, Arthur,” Mr Crouch walked past them on his way to Ludo Bagman. “Good to see you all here today.”</p><p>But judging by the man’s voice, he was all but glad to be there himself.</p><p>“Barty, why don’t we all sit down and have a nice cup of tea on the grass?” Ludo offered as Crouch approached him. “What do you think, eh?”</p><p>“No, thank you,” Crouch rejected him. “As it happens, Ludo, we have plenty to do. The bulgarians tell me you haven’t met any of their requests.”</p><p>“Well, I couldn’t understand what they were trying to tell me, you know, with that thick accent of theirs,” Ludo chuckled. </p><p>“Very funny indeed,” said Crouch, not moving a muscle on his face. “Fortunately, I did understand “that thick accent of theirs", so I would thank you enormously if you could be bothered to do your job.”</p><p>“Err... right away, Barty,” Ludo cleared his throat. “Arthur, Amos.”</p><p>“If you’ll excuse us,” Mr Crouch told them as he started to walk away behind Mr Bagman. “Come on, Weatherby.”</p><p>As soon as the Ministry’s men walked away from them Fred and George cackled at the name Crouch had given Percy. </p><p>“Ehm, anyway,” Arthur cleared his throat as he looked around the group. “Shall we?”</p><p>The rest nodded in agreement as they started following Mr Weasley, whose gaze turned back and forth between the map Mr Roberts gave him and his surroundings. Harry walked in the back with Ron and the girls, Mr Diggory seemed to have forgotten to take his hand off of his son’s shoulder as they walked side to side, and Fred and George walked behind their father.</p><p>Harry didn’t pay much attention to either Cedric or his father, as a matter of fact, he barely paid attention to Mr Weasley even though he was the one guiding them to their tents, he was too busy looking around the campsite. To Harry, Diagon Alley was already a gigantic conglomeration of witches and wizards but standing there at that campsite made him realise just how vast the Wizarding World actually was, they even ran into to some familiar faces on their way to their tents: Seamus Finnigan and his mother seemed to have taken Dean Thomas with them to watch the final match of the World Cup, they waved at each other as they walked past their tent.</p><p>“And at long last, we're here,” Arthur Weasley pointed at a small beige tent. “Amos, I believe yours is that orange one right over there.”</p><p>“It is, thank you, Arthur,” Amos beamed at the man. “See you all at the match.”</p><p>“See you,” said Cedric just before following into his father’s steps and disappearing inside of the tent.</p><p>One by one, starting from the twins, the group started getting inside the tent, Harry was the last one and he hesitated for a second, the tent clearly wasn’t big enough for all of them, and as much as he wanted to be optimistic, he expected the tent to crumble as Mr Weasley, the last one before Harry himself, entered the tent. But he was shown to me mistaken as he pulled the tents curtains and entered.</p><p>The tent's triangular ceiling resembled that of a hall, except for the fabric in its walls instead of stone, it had a proper living room in the centre and had three “rooms” in its back, the one in the centre was the dining room and the two at the sides were two bedrooms filled with bunk beds.</p><p>“I love magic,” Harry said to himself as he sat beside Ron in the living room. </p><p>Hermione was also amazed in her own way, she was already bombarding Ginny with which enlargement charms she thought were used on the tent to make it as liveable as it was, Ginny however, didn’t seem to mind, as she looked very invested in what Hermione had to say even though she probably already knew all about that, having been raised by a magical family and all.</p><p>Harry and Ron fell asleep on the couch as soon as they became acquainted with it, their early morning walk to the Portkey had clearly taken a toll on them. Harry’s thoughts were already clouded and once he closed his eyes he surrendered completely to exhaustion. </p><p> </p><p>“... But he was nowhere to be seen!” Percy’s voice startled him a couple of hours later. “I mean it, Charlie, he wasn’t there!”</p><p>“Perce, that doesn’t mean they’re broken up!” said Charlie as calm as he could. “Maybe he simply couldn’t show up.”</p><p>“They probably are broken up though!” Harry saw Percy raise a single finger as he opened his eyes. “We all know Marcus Flint is a jealous cunt and he probably couldn’t stand it when Oliver got into Puddlemere United and he didn’t.”</p><p>“Well, it seems to me Marcus Flint isn’t the only jealous cunt if that’s how you refer to someone you’ve interacted like twice with,” said Bill from the other side of the room.</p><p>“Oh, enough!” Arthur yelled in exasperation. “We have a match to attend to, and Percy, if you’re that shaken up about Oliver Wood's love life why don’t you go and ask him out once and for all, hmm? Didn’t you say you <em>spotted</em> his tent just a few steps from here?”</p><p>“Well... maybe I will!” Percy walked decisively to the tent’s exit. “And by the way, I didn’t say <em>spotted</em>, it makes me sound like I was stalking him!”</p><p>“Which you probably were,” George added as his older brother left.</p><p>“Ginny, Hermione,” Mr Weasley called. “Wake up Harry and Ron, will you?” </p><p>“We're up!” Ron announced just before yawning. “Thanks to Percy's undying love for Oliver Wood, that is.”</p><p>“Well, get up then.” Arthur said hurriedly. “And grab a sausage on your way out, you missed them while they were hot.”</p><p> </p><p>The campsite was a whole different spectacle at night, red and green fireworks flooded the night sky as the infinite crowd of witches and wizards made their way to the gigantic stadium that stood at the back of the campsite.</p><p>Harry didn’t notice when Amos and Cedric joined them again, he was surrounded by so many unfamiliar faces it was hard for him to keep up with the ones he was already acquainted with.</p><p>“I'll walk behind with the others!” Harry saw Cedric tell his dad.</p><p>Amos nodded in response as he accelerated his pace in order to keep up with Mr Weasley and the older boys while Cedric walked towards Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. </p><p>“Hey!” Cedric waved as he caught up to them.</p><p>“Hey,” said Harry.</p><p>“You and your dad made up, huh?” Ron asked him.</p><p>“Uh, Harry told you?” Cedric asked uncomfortably.</p><p>“There wasn’t much to tell, to be honest.” Hermione sighed even though Harry hadn’t told her about Amos' treatment yet. “The tension between you and your father this morning made my neck hurt.”</p><p>“Well, yeah, we made up,” Cedric turned to Harry. “He wants to speak with you, though.”</p><p>“Oh dear,” said Harry.</p><p>“To apologise, of course,” the Hufflepuff chuckled. </p><p>Harry limited himself to nod in response, that was a conversation he wasn’t looking forward to have.</p><p> </p><p>The stadium stairs resembled the Great Staircase from Hogwarts. They certainly hurted the same, Harry thought as he sucked up the burning pain behind his legs and took another step upwards.</p><p>“A lift wouldn’t hurt, right?” Hermione sighed beside him as they took yet another step.</p><p>“A lift, a broom, anything,” Harry replied.</p><p>Fortunately for them, the top of the stadium (where their seats were located) was just three sets of steps away, and when they finally got there, the view seemed worth the pain, they were at least 10 meters above the goalposts, and those alone were twice as tall as the ones from Hogwarts. The Minister’s Box was just besides their seats, Harry could distinguish Fudge and a few other foreign dignitaries and just behind them Harry recognized two very familiar blondes: Lucius and Draco Malfoy. </p><p>Harry didn’t wait for the others to get there and started walking rapidly towards the Minister’s Box but suddenly, his long paced steps were interrupted by an unseen obstacle that made him trip.</p><p>“Oh, Dobby, didn’t see you there,” Harry told the house-elf as he got up again. “What are you doing here?”</p><p>“<em>Winky</em> is saving Mr Crouch’s seat as instructed by him, ‘the one next to the Minister’s Box’ he said,” the brown-eyed female house-elf said to him. “Dobby isn’t Winky's name, sir, but she does know Dobby.”</p><p>“Harry, where are you— oh,” Hermione stopped abruptly. “Who are you?”</p><p>“I was just telling Mr—”</p><p>“Potter,” Harry told her.</p><p>“Oh, Potter,” Winky shook her head. “I was just telling Mr Potter that my name's Winky, not Dobby.”</p><p>“I see, nice to meet you, Winky,” Hermione offered her hand but the house-elf didn’t take it, she certainly lacked Dobby's enthusiasm. “W-well, er, what are you doing here? You’re shaking.”</p><p>“It’s nothing, miss,” Winky dismissed her as she took a quick, terrified glance to the ground. “Winky is saving Mr Crouch’s seat as instructed, it’s just that she is slightly scared of heights.”</p><p>“Oh, why don’t you seat one or two rows back then, you might be more at ease than standing here on the edge of the stand,” Hermione suggested.</p><p>“Mr Crouch’s seat is not ‘one or two rows back'!” the indignation was obvious in Winky's high-pitched voice. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, Mr Crouch will be here any minute now.”</p><p>Hermione walked away and dragged Harry by the arm.</p><p>“That poor thing,” Hermione lamented. “I do hope Crouch gets here soon then, I can’t stand to look at her.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Harry nodded, looking back at the Minister’s Box, perhaps Draco had already seen him.</p><p>“Right,” said Hermione with a glimpse of disappointment. “Where were you going? Fred and George just made a bet with Mr Bagman and Bill bought hats for us.”</p><p>“Hats?” Harry frowned.</p><p>“Yeah, and scarves,” Hermione added. “I do hope you’re on Ireland’s side since Ron is the only one who insisted on getting Bulgarian memorabilia.”</p><p>“It’s alright, I don’t mind,” Harry replied. “I was just going to see Draco.”</p><p>“Oh, is he there?” Hermione asked. </p><p>“Yeah, you didn’t see him?” Harry inquired.</p><p>“No, I only saw his father,” said Hermione. “You weren’t just planning on barging inside the Minister’s Box, right? Not after all your Lucius Malfoy related nightmares anyway.”</p><p>“Well, yeah,” Harry replied. “I didn’t really think it through.” </p><p>“Come, you’ll find him later,” Hermione guided him back to the group and Harry glanced back again, Draco really wasn’t there anymore. </p><p> </p><p>The <em>veelas</em>, the Bulgarian team mascots, didn’t seem to make that much of an impression on Ron, at least compared to his reaction to Viktor Krum, the bulgarian seeker and team captain. Ron completely lost his mind as soon as Krum flew inside the <em>Quidditch</em> Pitch, Harry could swear he heard him mumble to himself “he’s a god, he's a god" several times, and he ended up cheering so hard his red and black scarf fell to the ground several stories under them.</p><p>Harry took Ron as a distraction and ran away to look for Draco, he looked back once again to the Minister’s Box but he only saw Lucius sitting behind Fudge. “The bathroom”, Harry thought, “he must be there, then.” And so Harry started descending down the staircase.</p><p>“Harry? Shouldn’t you be up there?” Remus Lupin ran into him.</p><p>“Prof— Remus, hi! I was just going to the bathroom!” Harry said. “What took you so long? Where’s Sirius?”</p><p>“He’ll get here soon, these stairs, honestly!” Remus sighed. “The bathroom you said?”</p><p>Harry nodded enthusiastically in response. </p><p>“Well, don’t take long, I’ll see you upstairs, alright?” said Remus.</p><p>“Alright,” Harry agreed.</p><p> </p><p>The stairs were deserted on his way down, probably because everyone was already on their seats watching the game, which Fudge had inaugurated a few minutes ago, Harry was starting to giving up on finding Draco that night when he finally ran into him, he was resting against a wall with a bored look on his face.</p><p>“What took you so long?” Draco inquired.</p><p>“What do you mean ‘what took me so long?’” Harry sighed in exhaustion. </p><p>“Well, I saw you upstairs, and I believe you did the same,” said Draco, “it obviously meant we had to meet somewhere else because, well, my father.”</p><p>“Right,” Harry nodded pretending he understood Draco's logic. </p><p>“So?” Draco urged him to talk.</p><p>“How do you know I have something to say to you, huh?” Harry frowned, he hadn’t noticed how or when their bickering had reignited. </p><p>“Well, if you hadn’t then you wouldn’t have glanced longingly to the Minister’s Box multiple times, would you?” Draco raised an eyebrow. </p><p>“I did not ‘glance longingly!’” Harry protested. </p><p>“Potter! Get to the point!” said Draco in exasperation. “I’ve been ‘in the bathroom’ for more than twenty minutes now!”</p><p>“Right, well, first of all, King's Cross,” Harry looked into Draco's eyes. “What happened there?”</p><p>“Merlin’s saggy pants,” Draco rolled his eyes. “What about King’s Cross?”</p><p>“Well, you know,” said Harry, why was he so nervous anyway? “we had a <em>moment</em>.”</p><p>“We did,” Draco agreed, expecting him to continue. </p><p>“And, er, we got close,” Harry added. “Like, <em>really</em> close.”</p><p>“Well,” Draco was now visibly nervous too, “it seemed like we were about to— “</p><p>“Kiss,” Harry blurted. “But we didn’t.”</p><p>“We didn’t,” Draco repeated after him. “But it was nothing, right?”</p><p>“Right, nothing,” said Harry, and Draco looked down at his feet, like he expected him to say something else.</p><p>“Because you’re with Diggory,” Draco added.</p><p>“No, I already told you I'm not."</p><p>“But you want to.”</p><p>“It’s complicated, you know?” Harry sighed. “With him.. and all.”</p><p><em>And you</em>, he almost said <em>you</em>. Why did he almost said <em>you</em>? And most importantly, why did he <em>want </em>to say <em>you</em>?</p><p>“I do know,” Draco sighed in return. </p><p>They stood there in silent for a moment, Ireland had just scored from the commentary.</p><p>“So, with that settled, what’s the other thing?” Draco adjusted his tie.</p><p>Harry hadn’t noticed until then, but Draco was wearing an all-black suit, and he looked, well, <em>good</em>.</p><p>“It might be a little uncomfortable to talk about,” Harry warned him.</p><p>“I believe we’ve already done uncomfortable before, haven’t we?”</p><p>“It’s about your father,” said Harry.</p><p>“Oh,” Draco stood there, stunned. “What about him?”</p><p>“Well, how often have you seen him this summer?” Harry asked him.</p><p>“Not that often actually,” Draco replied. “That’s why we were able to go to your party at Grimmauld Place.”</p><p>“I've been having dreams, Draco, nightmares, and he's in them,” said Harry. “And my scar— “</p><p>“It has been hurting, right?” Draco placed his hand on Harry’s shoulder. “I can tell.”</p><p>“I-in these dreams,” Harry continued, “he’s with Voldemort.”</p><p>“Where are they?” Draco retorted at the mention of Voldemort. “What are they doing?”</p><p>“They’re in an abandoned manor, I don’t know where, a small town, it overlooks a graveyard,” said Harry, “Voldemort, well, he looks barely human, and your father, he looks very tired, he's speaking with Voldemort and there’s someone else there, another man, and a snake, a pet snake.”</p><p>“And what happens next?” Draco’s gray eyes stared right into Harry’s.</p><p>“They kill a muggle,” Harry sighed. “Voldemort does, your father and the other man just stand there."</p><p>“Harry,” Draco started, “I don’t know what these dreams mean, I'm scared to even find out to be honest, but whatever it is, I believe you, alright? I do.”</p><p>“Thanks,” Harry smiled at him. “Really.”</p><p>“We should get back up, father won’t be pleased.”</p><p> </p><p>Harry ran into his godfather on the last set of stairs before getting to their seats, Sirius Black looked done.</p><p>“Bloody stairs,” he mumbled. “I’ve spent most of the match climbing them.”</p><p>And just as they took the final step, Krum caught the snitch and Fudge announced the end of the match, Ireland had won... something about the score. </p><p>“Oh, for fuck's sake!” </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter on the comments below. </p><p>And now, a few things to address:<br/>1. You can expect regular updates again, sorry for taking off like that, life happened and I felt a little overwhelmed.<br/>2. I decided to create the Discord server, here's the link:<br/>https://discord.gg/CXTRuA9adA<br/>3. As a bonus, here's the playlist I listen to whenever I'm writing this story, it's on spotify, hopefully we have a few songs in common:<br/>https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2hxn1oDxCPojduGq2oLWGV?si=Sawd2LOVTOum2E3FrkOVjA&amp;utm_source=copy-link</p><p>That's it for today, if any of the links stop working you can tell me on the comments and I'll share it to you again, have a good day!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chaos, scarves and dark marks.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ron meets Viktor Krum and all hell breaks loose at the World Cup.<br/>Harry and Sirius talk about the Black family.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 7:</strong><br/>
<strong>Chaos, scarves and dark marks.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>The way down from their seats was even more dreadful than the way up. Harry had already taken his fair share of stairs for that evening and to top it all off he could barely hold a thought with all the conversations taking place around him: Ron was incessantly speaking about how amazing Viktor Krum was and all the manoeuvres he could perform without forgetting to lament the loss of his bulgarian scarf, Hermione was pointing out how Winky sat there shivering for the entirety of the game since Mr Crouch never showed up, Fred and George had apparently won a bet against Ludo Bagman (against Mr Weasley's advice, of course), and Remus was nagging him about where he and Sirius had been throughout the match, Cedric, the older boys, and Ginny were the only ones actually talking about the match itself since Amos and Mr Weasley were already absorbed in Ministry stuff and Percy was nowhere to be seen.</p><p>“But what I don’t understand,” Remus continued as they left the stadium, “is how can you two take so long to climb a few stairs?”</p><p>“A few?” Sirius pretend to gasp for air. “My legs are completely numb!”</p><p>“Oh, please,” Remus dismissed him as he turned to Harry. “And you, watching the match was supposed to be your birthday present from us and you missed it!”</p><p>“I didn’t miss it,” Harry looked away in embarrassment , he couldn’t help but notice the look on Remus' face, a mix of sadness and disappointment. “I watched the veelas and leprechauns.”</p><p>“See, he didn’t miss it!” Sirius placed his arm around Harry’s shoulder. “Even you didn’t got to watch that.”</p><p>Remus nodded in response, Sirius taking sides wouldn’t make things any better.</p><p>“I just want you to know, Harry, that you can talk to me, to us,” his former professor said just before accelerating the pace in his steps. “There’s no need for sneaking around, you’ve trusted me before.”</p><p>The sound of the conversations surrounding him drowned out everything else as Lupin’s words settled in Harry’s head. He had told Ron and Hermione about his recent dreams, his nightmares, he had just told Draco as well, but they were all the same age as him, telling them certainly took a weight off his shoulders, but how could they help him? Perhaps it was time for Harry to open up to Sirius and Remus, after all, Remus was right, he had trusted him before.</p><p>“Oi! <em>Vait</em>, I believe this is yours!” a powerful voice distracted Harry from his thoughts.</p><p>“Bloody hell, bloody hell, bloody hell,” Ron muttered to himself, panicking. “Is that my scarf?”</p><p>“Is that Viktor Krum...?!” Ginny's jaw dropped, “...holding your scarf?!”</p><p>The view of the bulgarian seeker sprinting towards them, towards Ron, scarf in hand was hilariously bizarre. He was still in his red and black quidditch robe, and even though Harry had grown accustomed to his face from the poster on Ron’s wall, he couldn’t help but notice just how much more handsome the boy was in person, his short hair enhanced his thick eyebrows and piercing brown eyes, and the sharpness in his jawline could give Cedric’s a run for his money.</p><p>“I believe this is yours,” said Viktor as he adorably swayed the red and black scarf from side to side in front of Ron.</p><p>“I-I believe it is,” Ron stammered. “How did you know?”</p><p>“<em>Vell</em>, you were hard to not notice,” Krum admitted. </p><p>“Oh?” Ron blushed as everyone else listened closely to his conversation with the <em>quidditch</em> star.</p><p>“Because you <em>vere</em> so loud,” he finished as he handed him the scarf.</p><p>“Oh,” said Ron slightly disappointed, Fred and George snickering behind him.</p><p>“It <em>vas</em> encouraging though,” Viktor added, lighting up Ron’s face. “I feel like <em>ve</em>’ve disappointed you by losing.”</p><p>“Not at all!” Ron was quickly to assure the older boy. “It was a tough match, a-and you managed to catch the snitch, it was impressive!”</p><p>“You really think so?” Krum's face blushed.</p><p>Harry could see in Ron’s face he meant to say yes, but was interrupted by Lucius Malfoy, who Harry anticipated by the burning sensation in his scar.</p><p>“Ah, Mr Krum!” Lucius greeted him. “We were previously introduced by Fudge, remember?”</p><p>“Mr Malfoy, yes,” Krum didn’t seem to share Lucius' excitement.</p><p>“This young man here is my son, Draco,” said Lucius as he placed his hand on Draco’s shoulder, Draco instinctively fixed his posture when in contact with his father.</p><p>“Delighted to make your acquaintance,” said Draco as he offered Viktor his hand, sounding quite monotonous, almost robotic. </p><p>Harry’s nerves were on edge, he had witnessed that exact same scene back in his first year at Hogwarts, he knew Draco didn’t do well with rejection, especially when pushed by his father, and he feared for him.</p><p>Fortunately, Krum did shake Draco’s hand, he didn’t, however, reciprocate Draco’s words. Harry could only imagine how Viktor read the scene, powerful Ministry of Magic functionary introduces him to his son in an attempt to suck up to him.</p><p>“I was just on my way to dinner with some comrades and I couldn’t help but notice the company you were keeping,” Malfoy glared at them in a disgusted manner. “I'd hate for you to mingle with the <em>wrong sort</em>, especially in a foreign country.”</p><p>Both Mr Weasley’s and Sirius’ ears went red, Harry looked down at his godfather’s hands and noticed how white his knuckles were.</p><p>“I was thinking perhaps I could be of assistance, hmm?” Lucius offered an arm as if inviting him to join him for a walk.</p><p>“Thank you for your offer, Mr Malfoy,” said Viktor almost without moving his lips, “but I believe I can tell the <em>wrong sort</em> for myself.”</p><p>“Very well then,” said Malfoy dryly. “Soon you’ll learn the importance of keeping the right company.”</p><p>“Is that a threat, Lucius?” Sirius intervened.</p><p>“Sirius,” Remus gave him a cautionary look. </p><p>“You’d better listen to your pet-wolf, Black,” Malfoy spat as he grabbed his son. “Come on, Draco.” Draco gave them a pitiful look as he walked away following his father’s grip, Harry hated when Lucius did that.</p><p>Even Amos Diggory, who had trash-talked Remus just a few nights ago, seemed uncomfortable.</p><p>“That pompous arse!” said Sirius high enough for Malfoy to hear him.</p><p>“Sirius!” Remus warned him.</p><p>“What? You know it’s true,” and no one could really disagree. “Whatever Cissy saw in him is beyond me!”</p><p>“I'm sorry about that,” Ron turned to Viktor. “I’m afraid it hasn’t been the first time we’ve had to deal with him.”</p><p>“Nor will it be the last,” Mr Weasley added bitterly.</p><p>“There is nothing to apologise for,” Viktor assured them. “He’s been trying to convince me to join him and his buddies for dinner ever since Fudge introduced us.”</p><p>Mr Weasley, Sirius and Remus exchanged a discreet, concerned look between themselves.</p><p>“You’ve declined every time, I assume?” Sirius turned to Krum.</p><p>“Of course, I ‘ave no time for that elitist nonsense,” Krum assured him. “Anyvay, I better leave, my teammates are probably <em>vondering</em> <em>vhere</em> am I.”</p><p>“Thank you, for returning the scarf,” Ron sighed. “It was nice meeting you, Mr Krum.”</p><p>“<em>Meester</em>? I am only a few years older than you,” Viktor smiled at him. “You can call me Viktor.”</p><p>“Well, it was nice meeting you, Viktor,” said Ron, his face as red as the scarf on his hands.</p><p>“It was nice meeting you too, errr— ” Viktor stopped himself. "I believe you haven't told me your name."</p><p>“Ronald,” Ron was quickly to add. “Ronald Weasley.”</p><p>“<em>Vell</em>, see you again soon, Ronald Veasley.”</p><p>“Wait, can you sign this for me?” Ron raised his voice alarmingly as he looked inside his pocket.</p><p>And from his pocket he got out a folded picture of Viktor Krum the size of a sheet of paper, Harry recognized it from one of Mrs Weasley’s magazines, <em>Witch Weekly, </em>Harry intended to ignore the reason why his friend carried that in his pocket.</p><p>“Sure,” Viktor laughed as he got out his wand.</p><p>He grabbed the picture from Ron’s hand and wrote on it with the tip of his wand:</p><p>
  <em>To Ron Weasley,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>In hopes he’ll take better care of his scarves.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Love, Viktor. </em>
</p><p>“Thank you,” said Ron blushing.</p><p>“It’s nothing, really” said Viktor, giving a nod of acknowledgment to everyone else before walking away.</p><p>The group digested in silence what had just happened as they continued their way to their tents. As they moved forward, their surroundings filled with more and more tents, forming an even more cheery campsite than the one they had gotten to know that afternoon.</p><p>Harry kept an eye out for Seamus Finnigan, and even though he never found him again, he was sure the boy had probably joined the irish in their celebrations. The night sky was being lit up by green and white fireworks, and a few coins of leprechaun gold had actually hit Harry on the forehead as they made their way to their tents.</p><p>“I can’t believe that happened,” Ron caught up to Harry’s side.</p><p>“The Krum thing?” Harry smiled at his friend’s joy. “You must have been really loud.”</p><p>“Either that or he has crazy attention to detail,” Hermione caught up to them. “I mean, what are the odds?”</p><p>“What do you mean?” Ron turned to her friend.</p><p>“Well, Trillenium Stadium was built to hold a hundred thousands witches and wizards,” Hermione pointed out, “and he noticed you and your slippery scarf. Out of a hundred thousand people he noticed you, Ron.”</p><p>Ron stared at her for a moment as he let the information Hermione had just dropped on him sink in.</p><p>“I mean, I have a lot of trust in your lungs and in how loud you can be sometimes,” she teased him, “but are you really that loud that you can stand out between that many people?”</p><p>“You know what, ‘Mione? I'm going to have to ask you to stop right there because you’re getting my hopes up,” Ron squealed.</p><p>“Awww, Ronnykins has a little crush?” Fred teased him.</p><p>“Viktor, I love you!” George sang.</p><p>“Viktor, I do!” Fred pretended his wand was a microphone, Harry was surprised he even knew what a microphone was, with it being a <em>muggle</em> artifact and all.</p><p>“Don’t listen to them, Ron,” said Bill. “They’re just jealous that the most famous person that has ever acknowledged them is Oliver Wood, and he just got signed.”</p><p>“Well, don’t let Percy hear you saying that,” Charlie added.</p><p>“He wouldn’t,” said Ginny, “his head is too far up his ass to hear anything but his inner workings.”</p><p>“Ginny!” Mr Weasley gave her a warning.</p><p>“Sorry,” the youngest Weasley said softly. </p><p> </p><p>The chairs and the couch together weren’t enough to fit them all inside the Weasley tent, which was by far the largest out of the three (the Diggory's, Sirius and Remus', and the Weasley’s). Sirius had bought dinner for everyone from a bulgarian cook a few tents away and even Amos, who was typically the most serious out of the adults, seemed to be enjoying himself.</p><p>“Quick, Vicky, sign my left butt cheek!” George cackled as he gave his best Ron impression.</p><p>“George, that would be enough!” said Mr Weasley as he tried his best to keep a straight face.</p><p>“However did you manage to be their teacher for a whole year?” Harry heard Sirius asking Remus.</p><p>“I managed you and James for seven years, remember?” Remus replied.</p><p>“Hey,” Cedric made him tune out of his eavesdropping duties.</p><p>“Hey,” said Harry.</p><p>“You missed the game,” Cedric pointed out.</p><p>“You noticed, huh?” said Harry as he took another bite from his dinner.</p><p>“Well, of course I did,” Cedric scoffed. “Wasn’t it supposed to be like your birthday present or something like that?”</p><p>“Yeah, I feel kind of bad,” Harry admitted. “It was a great present and I basically threw it away.”</p><p>“Why did you then?” Cedric turned to him.</p><p>“I had something to do,” Harry replied. </p><p>“Oh,” said Cedric, unsure if he should question him even more.</p><p>“I met up with Draco,” Harry told him. “We had a few things to talk about.”</p><p>“What kind of things?” Cedric asked and immediately regretted it, he knew it wasn’t any of his business. </p><p>“Some dreams, nightmares, I’ve been having,” said Harry. “And the King’s Cross of it all.”</p><p>“King’s Cross, huh?” Cedric inquired. “Any new developments?”</p><p>“Not really,” said Harry. “We just agreed on what we both knew for starters: that nothing happened.”</p><p>“And you are okay with that?” Cedric raised an eyebrow at him.</p><p>“Totally, we’re best friends, him and I,” Harry replied. “We’ve always been best friends.”</p><p>“And to this day the reason why is beyond me,” Cedric laughed. </p><p>“Oh, please,” Harry chuckled, “you can act like you dislike him all you want but you and I know you’ve grown fonder of him.”</p><p>“With a father like that is hard not to,” said Cedric.</p><p>“You’re one to talk,” the words escaped Harry’s mouth. “Sorry.”</p><p>“No, it’s alright,” said Cedric as he looked away.</p><p>The outside noise penetrated through the tent’s thin fabric walls, setting a cheery ambience, when suddenly, the fireworks grew louder and the yelling and cheering became wilder.</p><p>“Sounds like the irish have got their pride on,” Fred pointed out, sitting comfortably besides George.</p><p>“I don’t think it’s the irish,” Mr Weasly said ominously as he had a look outside.</p><p>“Arthur?” Amos turned to him, alarmed, as everyone inside the tent got up, not quite knowing what to do.</p><p>“We need to leave,” Arthur announced.</p><p>The scene outside the tent was chaotic, tents were being set on fire and people were running from something or someone but Harry couldn’t tell who or what it was.</p><p>“Is that Mr Roberts?!” Hermione panicked as she pointed to the sky with her finger.</p><p>“And his family,” Sirius added somberly. </p><p>The whole Roberts family levitated and spinned on the night sky, Mr Roberts seemed to be unconscious, while his wife and their two children called for help at the top of their lungs. Harry looked around the campsite’s crowd looking for an attacker when he noticed a group of people, they were all in black robes and wore masks, their unintelligible chanting made a chill run through Harry’s spine and their wand movements matched the Roberts family torment.</p><p>“Death Eaters,” Remus warned them as he grabbed Sirius’ arm with one hand and got out his wand with the other.</p><p>“Find the <em>Portkey</em>,” Mr Weasley turned to the younger party of the group. “We’ll meet you there. Bill, Charlie, find Percy.”</p><p>“Yes, dad,” said Charlie before running off with his oldest brother.</p><p>“Fred, George, Ginny is your responsibility,” said Mr Weasley.</p><p>“Cedric, stay close to them,” Mr Diggory smiled nervously at his son.</p><p>“You too, Harry,” Sirius turned to him. “We’ll find you later, use your wand if you have to.”</p><p>And just like that the adults ran off against the tide of people coming their way, Harry was quick to follow Sirius’ instructions and looked for his wand, he wasn’t an experienced duelist but he thought that he should be ready nonetheless, the only problem was that he couldn’t find his wand.</p><p>“Harry, what’s wrong?” Cedric inquired as he watched the younger boy patting his pants.</p><p>“My wand,” Harry gasped in panic. “I can’t find my wand.”</p><p> “Guys, come on!” Fred called out to them. “We need to leave!”</p><p>“Come, Harry, we’ll look for it later,” Cedric assured him as they followed into the Weasleys’ steps.</p><p>The stampede of people behind them made it hard for them to stop running until they were almost in the outskirts of the campsite, a few people could be seen hiding behind some bushes and Harry thought he had recognized Draco among them.</p><p>“Quick, let’s go there!” Harry yelled as he dragged Ron and Hermione with him towards the bushes.</p><p>“Malfoy! What are you doing here?” George asked him as his twin brother, Ginny and Cedric arrived behind him.</p><p>Harry felt bad for his friend, the twins hadn’t exactly warmed up to him yet, and Draco, he looked scared, his gray eyes were wide open, he seemed as alarmed as they were.</p><p>“Are those the comrades your father was talking about?” Fred confronted him.</p><p>“Fred, that’s enough!” Harry cut in. “We don’t know who are these people or why they’re doing this.”</p><p>“Speak for yourself, Harry,” George turned to him. “But the robes, the masks, it’s all very obvious to me.”</p><p>“Are you alright?” Harry asked Draco, ignoring the twins' claims. “Where’s your father?”</p><p>“I’m okay, it’s not me they’re looking for,” Draco deliberately ignored Harry’s second question. </p><p>“What do you mean?” Hermione asked him.</p><p>“They’re going after <em>muggles</em>, Granger,” said Draco shakily. “In fact, I think it’s better if you hid somewhere else.”</p><p>“Hermione is a witch, Malfoy,” Cedric snarled at him. </p><p>“I’m not being prejudiced, Diggory, I'm looking out for her,” Draco stood up to the older boy. “Whoever they are, you are a fool if you think they can’t identify <em>muggleborns</em>, she’s not safe here.”</p><p>“Fine,” Fred admitted defeat.</p><p>“We should leave then,” said Ron as he clung onto Hermione’s arm.</p><p>“Will you be alright?” Harry asked Draco before taking off.</p><p>“They won’t hurt me,” Draco gave him a sad smile, and Harry knew that whatever the Death Eaters were, Draco’s father was among their ranks.</p><p> </p><p>The smell of smoke and burnt grass flooded Harry’s nose, the campsite behind them had turned into nothing more than a few dimly lit ruins, most of the people there had already apparated back to wherever they came from unlike them, that were still waiting to hear from their parents.</p><p>Harry’s steps had turned sloppy over time, he was tired. Ginny and the twins were running more than a few meters ahead of them while Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Cedric followed behind their footsteps. The attack seemed to be over already, most of the fires had been put out and the Roberts family was no longer levitating in the sky, although that was no guarantee that they were safe. Harry still kept an eye out at his surroundings but nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.</p><p>First, he tripped, he didn’t know how or with what since the road ahead of them was filled with nothing but ash and burnt grass, but that became the least of his worries when he saw a jet of green light exploding into the night sky presided by an incantation (<em>Morsmordre</em>! He thought he had heard). Above them floated a symbol, a mark, a gigantic skull formed by what seemed like some sort of greenish smoke flooded the night sky. They were horrified enough already when a snake slipped out of the skull’s mouth like some sort of grotesque tongue.</p><p>“What is that?” Harry shrieked in horror.</p><p>“It’s the Dark Mark, Harry,” Ron replied shakily. “It’s his mark.”</p><p>Harry meant to ask what that meant, was Voldemort there? Had he somehow recovered from the inhuman condition he was in in his nightmares and had Lucius Malfoy something to do with it? Harry’s non-stop thinking was interrupted as they barely managed to duck a couple of jets of red light aimed at them.</p><p>“<em>Stupefy</em>!” The Ministry’s men aimed their wands at them.</p><p>“Stop! That’s my son!” Amos Diggory made himself present.</p><p>“Harry! Are you alright?” Sirius followed after Amos, Mr Weasley and Remus panting behind them.</p><p>“Crouch! What is the meaning of this?” Harry had never seen Mr Weasley that angry.</p><p>“They were found at the crime scene, Weasley!” Crouch turned to the redheaded man. “One of them must have conjured the mark!”</p><p>“They’re just children!” said Sirius fiercely. “How could they?”</p><p>“Well, someone must have conjured it, Black,” said one of Crouch’s men.</p><p>“Wait, I think we hit something!” the other employee announced. </p><p>Harry followed the man with his eyes and noticed something as he crouched besides a burnt out bush: a house-elf covered in ash laid there unconscious on the ground with a wand tangled on its fingers.</p><p>“<em>Rennervate</em>,” the man pointed his wand at the house-elf and it immediately gained consciousness. </p><p>Winky blinked in confusion as she looked around her surroundings.</p><p>“Mr Crouch!” Winky turned to her master.</p><p>“I think that’s my wand,” Harry whispered to Cedric, “in her hand.”</p><p>“What was that, Potter?” Crouch turned to him with an unforgiving expression on his face.</p><p>“My wand, sir,” Harry cleared his throat. “I lost it back at the campsite and Winky seems to have it.”</p><p>“Winky?” Mr Diggory frowned at them.</p><p>“Mr Crouch’s house-elf, sir,” said Hermione. </p><p>“Ah, and how do we know it wasn’t her who casted the spell, eh, Crouch?” Mr Diggory inquired.</p><p>“She’s a house-elf, Diggory,” Mr Crouch spat.</p><p>“We’re aware, Barty,” Mr Weasley cut in, “but we all know any magical creature in possession of a wand can cast a spell if they know how to.”</p><p>“Are you implying I taught dark magic to my house-elf?” Crouch raised an eyebrow. </p><p>“Arthur never said such a thing,” Amos walked up to Winky. “I think the best course of action would be to search the wand, discover its last spell.”</p><p>“Mr Crouch, sir?” Winky looked up at her master, shaking. </p><p>“Give him the wand,” Crouch ordered.</p><p>Winky shakily placed the wand into Amos Diggory’s hands, the man then proceeded to inspect it as he mumbled unintelligibly to himself.</p><p>“It was her,” Amos announced after a few seconds. “The Dark Mark was casted by this wand.”</p><p>“I trust you’ll take care of it then, Crouch?” said Arthur. “It is your house-elf after all.”</p><p>“As of this moment, you’re no longer at my service,” Crouch turned to Winky. “You’re dismissed.”</p><p>“B-but, Mr Crouch,” Winky’s brown eyes filled with tears, “Winky didn’t do it.”</p><p>“The wand was in your hands,” Crouch spat. “And I refuse to tolerate neither dark magic nor lies.”</p><p>“W-where is W-Winky supposed to go now?” The house-elf's voice broke.</p><p>“Whatever it is you’re planning on doing or not doing is none of my business now,” Crouch blurted. “I am no longer your master.”</p><p>It was obvious to anyone there that Winky had not casted the Dark Mark, however, the evidence was right there, she had Harry’s wand. The scene was heartbreaking in a million ways, Harry knew from Hogwarts’ house-elves that not every house-elf craved liberty like Dobby, but he had never known a house-elf as set as Winky in continuing to lead a life of service, especially at Mr Crouch’s service, unforgiving as he was.</p><p> </p><p>The <em>Portkey</em> dropped them at one of the hills surrounding Ron and Cedric’s village, Ottery St. Catchpole. The rising sun painted everything on sight with a heavy orange tint and an old and dirty owl stood beside the boot that served as a Portkey with a letter attached to it.</p><p>“Dad, is for you,” said Ron as he unattached the letter from the owl.</p><p>“It’s from Alastor,” Mr Weasley said out loud. “Amos would you mind lending them your fireplace? I’m afraid this cannot wait.”</p><p>“Is everything alright, Dad?” Bill asked. </p><p>“Yeah, just get your siblings home, I imagine your mother must be dying in worry.”</p><p>Mr Weasley exchanged a farewell nod with them before disapparating.</p><p>“This way, everyone,” said Mr Diggory.</p><p>“I can’t believe Crouch would dismiss her like that,” Hermione told Harry and Ron. “Like she was nothing."</p><p>“Mr Crouch seems like the kind of person to dismiss people like they’re nothing,” said Ron.</p><p>“Still, that doesn’t mean it’s fair,” said Hermione. “Besides, does he really expect us to believe Winky casted the Dark Mark? With no investigation at all?”</p><p>“Winky did have my wand, ‘Mione,” said Harry. “That’s all that matters to Crouch, the circumstances are of no interest to him.”</p><p>“How can you say it like that?” Hermione asked indignantly. “It’s almost like you don’t even care.”</p><p>“I do care, but what exactly would you have me do?” Harry turned to her. “He was ready to imprison all of us if we took another step.”</p><p> </p><p>The rest of the road to the Diggory’s was a quiet one, Hermione had given up on discussing the injustice of Winky’s case and everyone else was too tired to even try.</p><p>“Weasleys first!” said Amos as he opened the door for them. “Celine, we’re home!”</p><p>“Thank, Merlin!” Mrs Diggory threw her arms around her husband. “Is anyone hurt?”</p><p>“We’re all fine, mum,” Cedric gave her a reassuring smile.</p><p>“Morning,” Sirius nodded at the woman with Lupin at his side.</p><p>“Ah, Mr Black, Professor Lupin!” Mrs Diggory greeted them. “Come in, come in, can I offer you some tea?”</p><p>“We’re fine, thank you,” said Remus. “Sorry for intruding in your home like that.”</p><p>“Nonsense, have a seat,” said Celine. “I assume you’re here to use the Floo Network.”</p><p>“Weasleys first,” Sirius repeated Amos' words as the man led them to the fireplace.</p><p>Ron’s address was repeated a total of seven times before it was his turn to use the fireplace.</p><p>“Say hi to your mum for me, will you?” said Harry.</p><p>“Sure, see you at the train?” Ron asked as he buried his hand in the Floo Powder bowl offered by Mrs Diggory.</p><p>“Sure, see you there, mate.”</p><p>“Mr and Mrs Diggory, thank you. Ced,” said Ron as he hunched inside the fireplace. “<em>The Burrow</em>!” He yelled before disappearing into the green flames.</p><p>“Your turn, Harry dear,” Mrs Diggory handed him the bowl.</p><p>“Thank you,” Harry turned to her. “Mr Diggory.”</p><p>“Mr Potter,” he nodded at him.</p><p>“Take care,” said Cedric.</p><p>“You too, Ced,” Harry smiled at him. “<em>Grimmauld Place 12</em>!”</p><p>For a moment everything around him turned green just before the tickling flames threw him on the carpet at Grimmauld Place’s sitting room, the screaming portrait of Sirius’ mother woke up at the noise of Harry’s arrival.</p><p>“Oh, for Merlin’s beard,” Sirius lamented as he appeared inside the fireplace. “Kreacher! Kreacher!”</p><p>“Wouldn’t it be easier to just get rid of it?” Lupin asked referring to the portrait.</p><p>“I would if I could, she probably used a Permanent Sticking Charm,” said Sirius as he stormed upstairs. “Kreacher!”</p><p>“That damn elf,” Remus muttered as he followed into Sirius’ steps.</p><p>Harry passed the tapestry room on his way to the stairs, he had watched Sirius sealing the room a few days before his birthday but the door was now wide open, Harry desisted from climbing up the stairs and walked inside the tapestry room instead. </p><p>The Black family tree was breathtaking, it depicted at least one hundred of Sirius’ ancestors, but truth be told, Harry was mainly interested in its most recent branches. Sirius burned portrait was located near the end of the tapestry, his brother Regulus by his side, Harry couldn’t help but notice Regulus' date of death, he knew from Sirius he had died young but he never knew exactly how young, he was only 18, Harry couldn’t help but feel pity for him.</p><p>“I thought I'd turn it into a study,” said Sirius by the door, “but I couldn’t get rid of the damn tapestry either.”</p><p>“Why didn’t you seal it back up then?” Harry asked him as Sirius walked towards him.</p><p>“There’s no use in that, Kreacher always finds a way to sneak back in,” Sirius sighed. “He likes to speak to my brother, I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed.”</p><p>“I didn’t know his portrait talked,” Harry gazed at the tapestry.</p><p>“It doesn’t, none of them does, but Kreacher and Regulus, they were close,” said Sirius. “Regulus was the only person in this world Kreacher was ever nice to.”</p><p>“Not even your parents?”</p><p>“He <em>respected</em> my parents, yes,” said Sirius nonchalantly. “But he only had eyes for Regulus, ever since we were children, it’s like he knew from the beginning I was trouble.”</p><p>“I don’t think you’re trouble,” said Harry.</p><p>“No, believe me, I was,” Sirius chuckled. “Moony can attest to that.”</p><p>“Do you miss him?” Harry inquired. “Your brother I mean.”</p><p>“Sometimes,” Sirius blurted. “But he was a bloody idiot.”</p><p>“Comforting, knowing how you once compared us,” Harry chuckled. </p><p>“No, I didn’t compare you,” said Sirius. “I just pointed out your similarities.”</p><p>“Which are?” Harry raised an eyebrow at him. “Being sorted in Slytherin and becoming seekers?”</p><p>“True, you don’t have that much in common,” Sirius admitted with a smile. “You do remind me of him sometimes, but it’s James I see in you, he would have lost his mind if he’d ever found out you’d been sorted in Slytherin.”</p><p>“Do you think he would have had an issue with that?”</p><p>“No, not really,” said Sirius. “And even if he had, Lily, Remus and I would’ve reminded him that there are good Slytherins.”</p><p>“Like your brother?” Harry asked him.</p><p>“More like Andromeda, my cousin,” Sirius replied and Harry got the clue to not dig further on the subject. “I miss her sometimes.”</p><p>“You’re a free man now, why don’t you go visit her?” Harry frowned. </p><p>“It’s different now, Harry, it’s all different,” said Sirius. “Twelve years passed before I escaped Azkaban, everyone moved on with their lives, how could they not?”</p><p>Harry stared at his godfather in silence, he was locked away without a trial at the age of 21, and Harry couldn’t help but wonder if sometimes he still felt that way, like time froze.</p><p>“Sorry for dumping that on you like that,” Sirius stared back at him. “I don’t know what came over me.”</p><p>“It’s okay, really,” Harry gave him a reassuring smile.</p><p>“Come, Moony's brewing some tea.”</p><p>And as Harry left the room, guided by Sirius’ arm on his shoulder he noticed a portrait he had never noticed before on the tapestry, a small portrait of Draco was painted just under Narcissa’s, date of birth and all.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Please let me know your thoughts on these chapter on the comments below.</p><p>Discord:<br/>https://discord.gg/CXTRuA9adA</p>
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